Dancing Through Life

Express Auto Rant

2011-08-31T15:30:00.001-07:00

I will NEVER go to Express Auto in Lee's Summit. Yesterday they failed my tires on my inspection. Since they were still technically under warranty for a few hundred more miles, I went to Firestone to see what they would do. They looked at them and said they should have passed and to go to the highway patrol for a second opinion. Highway patrol passed them. So I took my car back to Express to get my pass slip and the girl at the counter asks for my keys. I was a little confused as to why they would have to look at my car again so I asked her why she needed them. She looks at me and says, "Uh, to pull your car in." I asked why and she said, "That's just what they do. I don't know, I just do the typing." So I give them to her and they look at it. The guy comes out and starts talking to me like I'm stupid trying to convince me that my tires do not pass, telling me that the tread is well below the wear-bar. I informed him that I looked at it and it was not below the wear bar. According to state regulations, the cord of the tire needs to be showing in order for them to fail. There was no cord showing at all. So after I tell him that I looked at my tires and the cord was not showing at it was above the wear bar, he walked away from me, shaking his head and muttering. Are you serious? I realize that my tires are almost the end of their life, which I admitted, but if the highway patrol passes them, then by law they have to give you your pass slip. The highway patrol did say that I'd need to get new tires before winter, which I knew. But that at least gives me until my next paycheck to save for them. But I will definitely be taking my business elsewhere.

Back to School

2011-08-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Haven't been on here in forever. This year I'm pretty much full time at the high school. We restructured our program so that all of the kids that received services go to one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. Before this year, we had 4 teachers traveling around the district, which in Lee's Summit, amounts to a lot of traveling. Our district has 18 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and 3 high schools. A 4th middle school and 4th high school are in the works but are on hold with the budget crisis. So this makes a lot of sense. We can now spend more time with students instead of in our cars. Last year, 40 minutes of my day was spent going back and forth between schools. I was putting tons of miles on my car. This year? I travel twice a week and only go one day. It's great. I can give my students the attention they need.

So far I'm liking working at the high school. I'm a little isolated back in my little corner, but I'm making friends. Since I push in to a lot of classes, I've met a few other teachers. Last Friday I stopped by to talk to one of my student's teachers and got invited to happy hour. I had a chiropractor appointment but I went ahead and went anyway. It was definitely a good time and I met a few more people. One thing about working at the high school is that there are so many people that it's hard to actually get to know them unless they're in your department. SPED teachers are pretty spread out though. In my corner are all social studies teachers, but since my student doesn't have any of them, I haven't really had a reason to go talk to them. So my new friends are mostly English teachers and SPED teachers. They're fun times. I was told anytime I needed a happy hour, just email. I like that.

In other news, my little sister is getting married in 12 days! I'm really excited for her. He's a good guy and treats her well. I'm excited to be her maid of honor. This is the first time I've been a bridesmaid, much less a maid of honor, unless you count my parents' weddings. Next week I have a 2 day work week after Labor Day, then it's off to St. Louis on Thursday for the rehearsal and the wedding on Saturday!

Do the HUSTLE!

2011-04-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

Last week I went to the gym and noticed that there was a new schedule for the group classes starting next week. One of the new classes on there was Hustle. I had seen it on a schedule in St. Louis and it sounded like fun, but there were no classes in KC. So when I saw that it would be Wednesdays at 7:30 I was super excited. Wednesdays are perfect for classes for me since Chris works until 9:30 so I tend to get bored and fall asleep on the couch at 9.

Today I was in a super bad mood and just stressed. When I got home I was seriously considering ordering Chinese for dinner and calling it a night. I laid around a while and yelled at the cat for complaining at me to let her in the bedroom. Then I decided that instead of going to the gym, I'd at least go down to the fitness center at my apartment and do something. About 15 minutes in, I decided that was boring and I was going to go to the gym after all to try out the class I'd been thinking about all week. I had a quick dinner and headed over when it was time.

I'm so glad I did! Not only was it fun, but it totally got me out of the funk I've been in all day. I burned 500 calories and sweated a ton. I will definitely be going back. For those of you that don't know what Hustle is, it's a hip hop cardio dance class. So kind of like Zumba, but instead of latin dance moves, it's hip hop. Today it was mostly the same song, but the routine is broken down into "blocks." By the end of the class you've learned a whole routine. It kind of reminds me of learning dances when I was at cheerleading camp, which I always liked even though I wasn't a great dancer. But the upside of today's class? It was the first one, so everybody was new!

Can't wait until next Wednesday!

Progress

2011-04-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally have been making progress after being on a weight loss plateau for months. I started doing a weight loss program through work. I didn't really know what it would be when I started. Basically, you eat only when you're hungry, which for most people is supposedly 1-2 times a day. You also are supposed to time yourself when eating by eating for 10 minutes, taking a 5 minute break, and then eating for another minimum of 10 minutes, and stop when you're comfortable. You're not supposed to eat when you first get up, but instead you drink watered down orange juice and wait to be hungry. The idea of that is that most people are dehydrated when they wake up and confuse it with hunger.

So far I've lost a little over 5 pounds in the last 5 weeks on it. I don't know if it's the actual diet, or the fact that I've been better about exercising 3-4 times a week, or a combination of both. Some of the principles of the program are hard for me to follow though. First of all, I generally am hungry 3 times a day, including when I first wake up. I have waited a few days, but usually I need to eat within an hour or an hour and a half after waking up. So I end up taking my breakfast with me to work. Another problem is that I don't have a 25 minute lunch break. I get 20 minutes for lunch, the same as the student I see during that time. If I don't eat during that time, I don't get a break until after 3:00. It's kind of hard to follow these things if I can't just tell my student, "I'm sorry, I'm at a level 3 hunger right now and I need to stop what I'm doing and eat." A lot of the stuff makes sense, but it doesn't fit with my lifestyle. Counting calories works well for me. I can't quit the program though because if I don't finish I have to pay the district $100. So I'll stick with it. At least I'm losing weight. So far I've lost 40 pounds since last year! I didn't start out measuring so I don't know how many inches I've lost. I do know that I started out wearing a 16 and now I wear anywhere from an 8 to a 12 (only in petites). So that definitely tells me I'm moving in the right direction. I'm a little behind in reaching my total goal, but sickness over the winter held me back. But now I'm back on track and looking forward to losing this last 20 pounds!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T16:32:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! 2010 was a good year and I feel like I accomplished a lot. I finished my first year of teaching, got my teaching certificate, and began my weight loss journey. In February I was at an all-time high of 185 lbs. Today I am 153 lbs. Total weight loss so far: 32 lbs. Not bad if you ask me. The beginning of the year was definitely stressful with work. I was so thankful to have the summer off to relax and recuperate. I definitely needed it and am glad I used the time to begin eating healthier and start exercising. I feel so much better when I am taking care of myself. It has not been easy. There have been plenty of times when I want to throw in the towel, but then I remember how horrible I felt before I started losing weight. I have to keep telling myself that this is a lifestyle change, and that there will be times when it's okay to let go a little bit, just as long as I get right back on and don't do it all the time.

I also joined a gym for the first time (if you don't count Curves). I even sprang for a personal trainer. She worked me harder than I would ever have worked myself, but also taught me things I would have been afraid to try. I've fallen in love with Zumba. I don't go as much as I'd like but I want to change that. I wish that I could have gone to the gym over winter break, but a nasty sinus infection has prevented me from going. Oh well. Things happen and it's important to make sure that I allow myself to rest when I am sick. The reason I got so sick was because I kept trying to go and go and not go to the doctor until I absolutely had to. So now I'm paying for it.

Right now I'm thinking about what goals I'd like to make for myself this year. That will come in another post. I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions, but there's nothing wrong with setting some goals. What are your goals for this year?

Updates

2010-11-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

So my blogger tells me I haven't posted since July. Well, I've posted on a different blog at least (sparkpeople.com). Weight loss is going well. I've lost 23 pounds since July and 31 pounds total since February. I've been feeling so much better about myself and it's so rewarding to walk into work and people telling me how great I'm looking. I've been slowly replacing my wardrobe and it's enjoyable for the first time in a long time. Today I wore a sweater dress that I found in the Junior department at Kohl's. The Junior Department! Do you know how long it's been since I could even go on that side of the store??? It's been a very exciting journey. Sometimes I have setbacks, but I try my best to get back on board right away.

Another thing I've done lately is I've joined 24 Hour Fitness. At first I thought, "Well, why would I join a gym when I can use the treadmill and some weights for free at my apartment?" Unfortunately my apartment does not offer the classes that I was wanting to try. I was getting bored with the treadmill. I haven't completely given up on running though. So I went ahead and joined, and also treated myself to 3 sessions with a personal trainer to reward myself for my successes so far and to give me a little boost. Man it was worth it! She introduced me to things that I would never have thought to try. She also gave me the confidence to try things that I wouldn't have done on my own. Anytime, I started to give her a look of "Are you kidding me???" she made me banish those thoughts right away. I left each session really fired up (and then complaining about the soreness the day after).

And of course, the classes were the main reason I wanted to join. The first one I tried was a spin class. It was challenging but a great workout and I plan on going again even though I haven't gone back yet. The next week spin was cancelled for Halloween but Zumba was during the same time so I convinced the coworker that convinced me to do spin class to come with me. I LOVED it!! I went back last night and it was just as awesome. The class I wanted to the most was the one I felt the least successful at. I stayed for 15 minutes before I gave up and left. However, I think I will try again with a different instructor. One of my coworkers at school teaches Turbo Kick at another location and she's going to get me in this weekend. So we'll see how I like it this time. I'll let you know what the verdict is.

That's about all for now!

C25K Week 2 Day 2

2010-07-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I almost made it through today. I did about 4 1/2 out of the 6 runs before walking the rest of the way. When I stopped running was about the time that I accidentally knocked the safety clip off the magnet and reset the treadmill. My calves were totally screaming and my ankles were hurting too. I wanted to push myself but my body did not apparently because I had major cramps in my calves afterwards even after stretching. I'm still getting slight shin splints even after the new shoes but I think that's the impact of my weight. I might do Week 2 again next week depending on how Friday goes. It took me quite a while to move up to Week 2 as it was considering I avoided running at all costs before this. But it is getting easier. When I started I couldn't get through the 60 second runs and now I'm up to 90 seconds at a time.

What really helps is that I have several friends who are in the same part of the program as I am so it's like I have people to root for and people that are rooting for me even though we're on opposite sides of the state. Go Erin and Aimee! We can do it!!!!

New Shoes!

2010-07-25T15:58:00.001-07:00

I got new running shoes today! I went to a running store and had them fit me. She said I was probably buying my shoes too small cause she noticed that I had a lot of rubbing on my heel. Which I did, because at the concert my shoes got soaked and rubbed really badly. Anyway, I got Asics Cumulus shoes and they are really comfortable. I can't wait to run in them tomorrow!

Go me!

2010-07-23T14:27:00.001-07:00

I've had an awesome week! I mentioned on the last blog post that I joined sparkpeople.com. It's really kept me motivated. I've kept a food journal on the site and tracked my workouts all week. I worked out 209 minutes and burned 1,140 calories. And you know what? I feel great! Before I started consistently working out, I took a 2 hour nap every day cause I was bored and had no energy. Now, I have no desire to take a nap. I've tried. Can't do it. I've been eating much better, too. I don't really even want unhealthy food. I do get chocolate cravings, but I got dark chocolate Chex Mix and that is very yummy! It satisfies my cravings very well. On Monday I'll weigh in and give an official report on what I've lost so far.

Name Nominations

2010-07-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm realizing that in less than a month I start back to school, which means I will be in my second year of teaching. Therefore, I need a new title for my blog. Any suggestions?

In other news, I met my calorie goal today and my cardio fitness minutes. I didn't get my strength training in though due to procrastinating and then my card didn't work to get into the clubhouse. Better luck next time I guess. I did get some strength training in during EA Active, but I count those calories towards my cardio workout.

Tomorrow: C25K

Reaching for Goals

2010-07-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I joined sparkpeople.com. It's an online weight loss program that's free to join. Thanks to Liz for recommending it! One of my goals on there for motivation is writing in a journal everyday. I'm counting this as my journal. So I guess I'll just talk about my day.

This morning when I got up I was just about to make breakfast when Chris suggested we go to Corner Cafe for breakfast. Since that's one of my favorite places for breakfast I couldn't turn it down. One problem: I knew I was going to start my food journal today. Writing down what I'm eating really makes me think about what I'm going to eat before I eat it. It's like seeing it in print makes it worth more or something. It also made me think about food almost every minute of the day. But back to breakfast. Usually when I go there I get the biscuits and gravy cause it's really good there. Instead, I went to "the lighter side" portion of the menu and had one egg, a piece of toast, and hash browns. I know the hash browns were a pretty big bomb, but I still managed to stay within my goals for the day, so I don't feel as bad. I just don't get ice cream tonight. It was well worth it though.

After breakfast and a trip I just relaxed until Chris went to work. Then I went down to the fitness center for my C25K run/walk. Finished the whole thing! It's getting easier and I think I'll finally be able to move to Week 2 next week. I also did my EA Active workout. I got the EA Active: More Workouts game and upped the intensity to medium instead of easy and it's kicking my butt but in a good way. This one doesn't have as many sports drills as the first one but it includes stretching and ab workouts so I like it better.

I think I'm going to need to invest in some good tennis shoes. My current tennis shoes are fine for walking around, but the other day after running I had some nasty shin splints. I also notice my feet hurting a lot while running in my arches. Part of that is probably excess weight but better shoes would support my feet better. Does anybody have any suggestions for shoes?

Thinking

2010-07-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

After a week of no exercise I'm getting back on the horse. I'm doing much better with my Wii workouts than I am with the C25K program. I'm going to head down to the gym soon though. It's been difficult for me to get started. However, I have been able to get through entire workouts without deciding to just walk the rest. I messed up last time I went to the gym and dropped my key card on the way back. So then I couldn't get back in until I found it or bought a new one. Luckily, when I went down to the office the other day someone had turned it in. Thank goodness cause we had also invited Emily and her boyfriend over for dinner. It was pretty tasty. We had chicken kabobs with chicken, pineapple, onion, and broccoli, along with asparagus, corn, and fruit salad. It was a nice change on the grill from hamburgers and hot dogs.

While I'm on the subject of food, I've been trying to think of ideas of how to eat healthier. I'm toying with the idea of joining Weight Watchers. I think I'll just do the online program but maybe it will give me more recipe ideas for healthier food. I can never come up with ideas for good food and end up getting stuck in a rut cooking the same thing over and over again. I think if I'm eating better and exercising I'll have more energy to get things done. I really need to keep it up once school starts. So many times I'd come home from work and just collapse cause I was so exhausted. I didn't have any energy, so I'd end up doing a quick crappy dinner or saying "Let's just go out." I think the most difficult thing will be cutting down on ice cream. I love ice cream.

Warning...major rambling

2010-06-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Summer has been pretty great. I'm glad that I have this time to wind down and relax, but also to work on goals that I can't get motivated to do during the school year. I have time to do things that I enjoy, and things that I don't enjoy, but need to do anyway. I've also enjoyed getting my backpay from this past year. With the extra money I've finally been able to buy a new bed and a new TV. They are both wonderful. Last night was the first night in the new bed and it was bliss. Chris and I don't feel like we're practically on top of each other and aren't constantly waking each other up every time we move. We decided to keep the old bed though and put it in the 2nd bedroom. Which means that the couch we had in there is now in an awkward spot in the living room. Doesn't really match but we'll figure something out for it in due time. I was going to use it for my classroom but I was informed this week that the full classroom I was going to have was also going to be the classroom for the paraprofessionals, which would not be a good idea with students with hearing impairments. So now I'm back to a slightly bigger office than what I had last year, which is good, but it's right next to the problematic bathroom that I could hear all last year. Gonna have to get some accoustical tile for that and dictate a bathroom schedule if it becomes a problem.

In other news, I have really started to work out. I have 2 programs I'm following. I do EA Active on the Wii 4-5 days a week (2 days on, 1 rest day), and I've decided to try out the C25K (Couch to 5k) program. The Wii workouts have gone better than C25K so far, but that's mostly because I tend to do my running/walking in the evening, and several times when I've gone to the apartment's fitness center I couldn't get in. I almost didn't make it in this evening but luckily somebody was leaving as I was going in. Apparently the door is sticking really badly. I guess I'll go down to the office in the morning and let them know. I practically had to throw all my weight against the door to get out when I was done. So today was the second time I did a 5k workout. The first time I did not make it all the way through all 8 intervals but today I did! Week 1 is a 5 minute brisk walk, followed by intervals of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking, and then a 5 minute cool-down walk. When it starts it's not so bad but at about the halfway point I'm wishing I were dead. I have a feeling I'll do week 1 a few weeks until it gets easier. I did notice that my calves were not screaming like they were the first time. However, I was wheezing a bit afterwards. I need to get my inhaler refilled. Maybe that will make things easier if I can breathe more fully. I need to keep this up. I'm tired of not fitting into clothes and hating looking at pictures of myself. Wish me luck!

Summer Vacation So Far...

2010-06-09T19:22:00.001-07:00

Well I have 2 weeks of summer vacation down so far. Over Memorial Weekend I went with Chris to his friend's wedding, and then to Goose Creek Lake where my aunt has a house. Good times had by all. My mom came down with us, which made it a lot of fun. Most people would think, "No big deal," but this was the first time she's been down to the lake since I was probably 7 years old, since my aunt is my dad's sister. They still get along really well though and at my stepmom's birthday party (which my mom also attended), Aunt Sherry decided she needed to make a trip down this summer.

After we got back from the lake, I stayed in St. Louis for a couple of extra days. On Tuesday I went to Mimi's hearing aid appointment with her and then out to St. Charles for a yummy dinner and catch-up time with Erin. We were going to get ice cream too but decided we were too full from dinner. So instead we decided to go to a park and take a walk and then went back to her place and chatted for a while. I didn't stay too incredibly late since she had to get up for work in the morning. On Wednesday Julie and I went to get pedicures. I love pedicures. I don't get them often enough. This could be a bad thing. I left Thursday morning to get back to Lee's Summit in time for an interview for a potential new HI Specialist. It's interesting being on the other side of the table for interviews now.

The past week has been pretty laid back. Chris and I got Super Mario Galaxy 2 and we've been playing that together a lot. Yesterday I finally went to the eye doctor and got new contacts. I've been wearing my glasses since November and it's been driving me crazy. I had to take them out today though cause my left eye has been really itchy like there's something in it. Probably allergies. The doctor recommended some eye drops for that but I haven't gone to the store for them yet. I would have gone to Target while I was out today but didn't think of it until later and I didn't have the paper with me anyway. There's probably not even anything in my eye, just probably bumpy under my eyelid from allergies so my eye is getting irritated. Oh well. I'll run out tomorrow if I need to. I'm meeting with a financial planner about my retirement account tomorrow at lunch so I'll just go then.

In other exciting news, I booked a trip to New Orleans to visit Kali in September! And our friend Emma is coming in from Scotland at the same time, so it's doubly exciting. We're trying to convince Beth that she needs to come too. With the exception of Germany and my excursion during that time to Italy, this will be my first trip without family. It's the first trip I've paid for entirely on my own. It's nice to be able to finally be able to do that and it feels like a big accomplishment. Yay!

Power Up!

2010-04-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 days I've been in Columbia at an assistive technology conference. It was pretty interesting and I learned a lot. There were some things that were a bit over my head because many of the seminars were assistive technology for blind/low vision. However, I did go to one on captioning videos, which will really come in handy. Sometimes videos aren't captioned so I'll have to probably script them myself. The presenter showed us a free program to use to caption. You still have to type it all out, but I think it's better than just giving the student a script to follow. While I was there, I said to Michelle that I wished there was something that along with captioning could sign to the person. Well, apparently there's a thing called SigningAvatar. They weren't at the conference, but I looked it up on the internet and it is so cool. I think I'm going to sign up for a trial to try it out for one of my students, and if it's something he likes, I'll ask the district to purchase it. It wouldn't take the place of an interpreter of course, but it could be used in place of an interpreter for videos. Or maybe when he's reading, he could type in the word and get the sign, or even have a book signed to him while he follows along.

I got a few demo CDs for different programs that I might check out.

By the way, why is it so cold again? It's messing with my walks! I started to do a Wii workout the other day, but I guess I upped the intensity before I was ready and/or tried to work out too soon after eating because after 5 minutes of run/squats/run, I felt like I was going to throw up, so I stopped. I never got back to it because I was trying to get my student teaching videos to send through email. I've been having issues with it. The files are too big to email. I'm working on trying to figure out how to splice the video into 2 on iMovie so I can upload it onto YouTube. One video is around 20 minutes and it said videos should be 10 minutes or less. I've never uploaded to YouTube before. I'm hoping that it works so I don't have to make a DVD and send it. I'm not so good at the video part of computers, I guess. Well, that's about all for now. Bye!

2010-04-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

I took a night off walking last night. I was pooped when I got home. Today we had a meeting before school about the budget cuts. Not a pretty picture. 6th grade had clubs today and I headed up the Walk and Talk group so I got to do my walking then. Granted I didn't get to really walk at the pace I would normally, but we walked for about an hour. We probably went about 1-2 miles. The school is right next to Longview Lake and there is a park around the lake so I took the girls through the park. It started raining towards the end but we made it inside before it started raining too hard.

Today was an early release day since it was Take Your Child to Work Day. I just worked on stuff and got caught up. I stayed late for the school carnival. It was supposed to be outside but with the rain they had to move it inside. I had fun being the target in the pie throw but I couldn't see most of the time from the whipped cream fogging up my goggles. Not many of the kids even know me so I never even had a line. But I was pretty covered by the end. My shower cap had slid up so I had it in my hair. I left right after that so I could get straight in the shower. Now I'm just relaxing, hoping that this headache goes away soon.

2010-04-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today was day 3 of my evening walk. Chris joined me tonight since he was home. Last night my iPod kept me company. Maybe I'll keep updating like this every day to keep myself accountable for actually going out and walking. I'm trying to work on making some changes in my eating habits. For my lunches, I've been avoiding taking chips as much as possible. Instead I've been taking fruit, carrots, or cheese and crackers along with my sandwich. I've been thinking about switching to ground turkey instead of ground beef. I know Chris won't go for it for himself, but I could easily make a turkey burger instead of a regular hamburger if we have hamburgers. We have a lot of ground beef, because it's quick and easy, but I know it's not the healthiest. The other night we decided to have steak instead of burgers and it was really yummy. So we might try to do that more often.

I'm really ready for this week to be over. I'm looking forward to Emily's birthday get together on Friday evening. I need to blow off some steam. Keep me in your thoughts. I've been really frustrated lately with some things.

Weight Loss

2010-04-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

So today was the second day in a row that I walked for 20 minutes around the lake! I've been trying the past few months to lose some weight. I joined the Biggest Loser challenge at work. I started out working out with the Wii using EA Active. I did that for about 2 weeks, and then started getting sick so I got off track. Today was the last weight in. I'm proud to report that I did not have to pay once (you pay if you gain). In fact, I lost 8 pounds!

6 weeks until summer!out

2010-04-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my first year of teaching is almost over! It's been a whirlwind. I just found out on Friday that I will be teaching summer school. That's a relief. Granted there's still 4 weeks of the summer that I won't be working but I'm hoping that things work in my favor for my certification. I finally got everything in and submitted to the state for my certification! It took a little longer than I expected because of needing extra transcripts, and then something would get lost, and it just seemed to be never-ending. Then last weekend I went on the dept. of education website to check the status of my application and it had been accepted!! What's more, is that instead of certifying me from the date it was accepted, they certified me for the whole year!!! I'm super excited about that, in case you can't tell. Why? Well, I've been paid a teacher associate salary all year. If the state says that I've been certified for the whole year, there's a chance that I'll get back pay. So keep me in your prayers because that would help me out a whole lot. I had planned on having all this paperwork in and finished back in January and having my raise already. I should be getting the certificate in the mail this week or next week so I'll definitely be taking it to my boss as soon as I get it.

There's a lot of other stuff going on at school, but I can't really talk about it on here since it involves my kids. I do know that I'll be moving up to the middle school for a good chunk of the day next year. I also have a new room at my home school for next year. It's bigger and not next to the bathroom. It's very distracting this year. Every time anyone uses the restroom next to my room you can hear the toilet paper being rolled, the flushing, and the washer and dryer that's in there (it's a staff bathroom).

In other news, Hobbes seems to have allergies, or something. We noticed a couple of weeks ago that he was squinting his eye and it was watering. So Chris took him to the vet and they did a test to see if it was scratched. It wasn't, so they gave him some medicine for allergies, since the same thing happened last year. He had to go back for a follow-up last week and he was still squinting. So now they want to test for herpes or glaucoma, but Chris told them that we would wait and see with more medicine. I think that they are just trying to make money. So we'll see what happens. We might look for another vet for a second opinion.

Well, I think I've written a long enough book for now.

Busy busy

2010-02-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Okay I guess it's time for my bi-monthly blog update. I had a great birthday. Mom and Sam came in town a couple weekends before and it was so much fun. The best part was Saturday night. Mom, Sam, Chris, and I went to Holy Smoke (a really yummy bbq place), and then to a pool hall until 9, when they kicked minors out. Then Chris dropped Mom and me off at Jerry's Bait Shop (a bar in downtown Lee's Summit) for some drinks. We had a little too much fun, but it was a blast. Earlier that day, Mom and I went shopping, and then drove all around town for my birthday present...a Wii! I used birthday money from mom and family. It has definitely gotten a lot of use. I've had a Wii Fit for a while from when I lived at home and used Sam's Wii, so I've been trying to stick to some sort of an exercise routine. I'm doing the Biggest Loser thing at school. Today was our first weigh-in since the beginning and I'm happy to report that I did not have to pay. Granted, that was because I stayed the same, but it's better than gaining right? Chris and I have also been addicted to Animal Crossing. We found this forum online for other players and have been visiting other people's towns. I know, we're dorks.

Today, I started out with a cranky student. I gave him a vocab quiz, which he knew about. He pretty much bombed it, and when I told him he really needed to study his words harder, he told me that I didn't tell him to study. Umm...kid, you're in 6th grade. If a teacher tells you you have a quiz, that means study. I know kids with hearing impairments take things very literally, but he should know by now that he should study for a quiz. He continued to give me attitude the rest of the morning. When he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, he just sat at his desk. When he couldn't find the paper with the assignment, he came back and sat some more. I was really torn on how much help I should give him. I can't hold his hand...if I do, it's a disservice because he won't advocate for himself. But then if I don't help, it's a disservice because he misses out. In the end, I did not help him and he ran out of time. He didn't seem to want much help, but that could just be the way I interpreted it, since we were both frustrated by then. I'm only there for 45 minutes in the morning. What does he do when he misses the directions the rest of the day? I can only do so much. We'll try again on Wednesday when I see him again.

Well, I should get to bed. Transition meeting tomorrow and writing an IEP that I should have worked on more tonight.

"My schema isn't working today."

2010-01-13T16:20:00.001-08:00

That's what one of my students told me today. I almost died laughing. What a stinker!

In other news, I am clearly a space cadet. I called the library last week to schedule my final for my children's lit class for today. On my way there I realized that I totally forgot to fill out an exam request to have my test proctored so I couldn't take it. The librarian was a bit rude. When I asked if she would be there Saturday she said "Yeah you're lucky." Geez sorry I made a mistake and it's not the end of the world if I had to wait till Monday. Whatever.

I remember again why I'm a teacher

2009-12-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the last day before break. I survived the first semester! While I was walking through the office yesterday morning, I saw one of my students with his mom and stopped to talk to them. I had been wanting to call her anyway to tell her of her son's great improvement this semester. At the beginning of the year, I couldn't get him to score a 6 on the DRA (a reading test...a 6 is kindergarten reading level). When I tested him this week, he had moved up to a 10, which is 1st grade...a big improvement. When I told her that she jumped up and down, threw her arms around me, and started crying. Then she said that was the best Christmas present anyone could ever give her. I had tears in my eyes at how happy she was. It's moments like these when I know why I am a teacher. Some days I want to tear my hair out in frustration, but then I remember moments like this and know that it will pay off. I think if I didn't get frustrated, it would mean that I don't care enough about my students.

In other news, I have the most annoying neighbors. The past 2 weeks we have not had a decent night's sleep because they have a very noisy bed and feel the need to have sex at all hours of the night, several times a night. I swear they're like rabbits. I've banged on the ceiling several times to no avail. This morning I went up there and banged on the door. I didn't think he would actually answer the door, but he did. When I told him he needed to be quiet, he told me he'd try his best but couldn't make any promises. I made a suggestion of going somewhere else in the house and he told me I couldn't tell him not to have sex. I never said that...I said to find another time and place. Then he said "This is my home, you can't tell me that." I told him that he has people that live below him and he needs to be more considerate. Seriously people, when you live in an apartment and people live below you, have some decency. If he keeps it up, I'm filing a noise complaint. When I'm woken up at 12:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 7:30 in the morning, I am not happy.

I guess it's time for another update

2009-11-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

See I told you guys I'm not good at updating blogs. I'm really good at reading other people's blog though! One blog I read religiously is by someone I don't even know. Kali introduced me to it at the beginning of the year and I really enjoy it. It was started to chronicle a family who has a little boy who is deaf and has bilateral cochlear implants. When I started reading, he had just had his surgery at 8 months old and is now within normal limits for speech and language, which is so awesome. Anyway, the woman who writes it (the little boy's mom) is in the hospital right now having an emergency c-section to deliver her little girl, which is baby #4 (technically baby #5, as one was stillborn). She's only 32 weeks, so keep this family in your prayers. She hasn't had a whole lot of luck with pregnancies. All of her kids were born premature.

Anyhoo, you probably don't care much about some random person that I don't even know.

I've been keeping pretty busy. Work is still great. I went to a workshop on Visual Phonics at the beginning of November and it was sooo awesome. I've been using it pretty intensely with my student who signs and he is doing so well. He has been sounding out words and voicing while reading. It's so amazing. He has a cochlear implant, but up until this year, has not used it. Today, he told me that he could hear the furnace running in my room and it was pretty quiet.

I went home for Thanksgiving, which was nice since I haven't been home to St. Louis since August. I came in on Wednesday afternoon and in the evening my mom, Sam, and I met my aunt at Hessler's. We had a great time hanging out. Thursday morning I went to my dad's for a Thanksgiving breakfast. I finally got to see the awesome job my dad did on the kitchen renovations. For dinner I went with my mom to her friend's house. After about a bottle and a third of wine and a delicious dinner, I conked out at 9:00. I was sent to the guest room while everyone else had fun laughing at my mom sleeping on the couch. Mom's friend woke me up and as we were getting ready to go, a fire broke out in the oven, filling the house with smoke. I hi-tailed it out of there and waited in the car for them to get it under control with my mom.

Friday morning was time for shopping. Good times. I got some Christmas presents, along with some presents for myself.

The rest of the weekend was fun too, but I'm getting tired of typing. Maybe I'll make another post in a few days...we'll see.

Sick

2009-10-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

I knew I couldn't escape getting sick for long. There's been way too much going around school for me not to catch something. We've even had H1N1 (aka Swine Flu). I woke up Wednesday morning with the beginnings of a sore throat and by Thursday I was pretty sure I had a sinus infection. Luckily my health insurance began promptly on Thursday. I had training on Thursday so I didn't have any kids to deal with so I made it through the day. Friday came however and I didn't make it. I had some meetings that came up last minute Thursday afternoon so I went in, but as soon as those were over I told my principal at Longview I was going home. So I got some work together for one of my kids and headed home for the comfort of my bed. I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon after I called the doctor which was nice.

Today I did more sleeping while Chris went to his grandma's for lunch. Being sick had its merits though because then I wasn't so depressed about not being able to afford to go to the American Royal BBQ Competition. For those of you not from KC, the American Royal BBQ is also known as the World Series of BBQ, where people come from around the country to compete for who has the best BBQ. I heard that this year there were about 500 booths. That's a lot of BBQ. Next year, we are totally going.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel much better because I have to get my homework done that's due by midnight. I also have fallen way behind on my children's lit homework. There aren't due dates but since I have to finish by the end of the semester instead of the end of the year, I need to stay on top of things.

One thing I'm looking forward to at school is that I'm going to start working on listening and speaking skills with my student who signs. His parents want him to be more a part of the hearing world, so if I can at least give him some survival phrases to say, I'll be more than happy. I'm all for him keeping sign, but if he has a spoken component it will really help him with reading and writing. Right now, he needs a lot of assistance with writing because if he doesn't know how to spell something, either I or his interpreter has to spell it for him. If he knows the sounds of the words and the sounds of the letters, he can be a little more independent. Hopefully it goes well!

ugh

2009-09-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Stress. I'm not a fan, but all too familiar with it. For the most part, my job is still going great. One hitch that I can't really talk about on here, but my kids are awesome even though I have to bribe one of them to come with me. The past couple weeks have been filled with meetings and training, which has cut down on instructional time, but that will calm down soon. Just a little worried about the quickly approaching end of the quarter, which means report cards, IEP progress reports, and parent conferences. Considering it took a little bit to get to know my kids and what works with them, I've only been really getting into the nitty gritty for the past 3 weeks or so it seems. Last week was a bit of a wash since I had so many meetings and had to push in instead of pull out so I didn't get as much done with one of my kids as I would have liked. But it was important that he was in class for what we were doing, so it was okay.

It's getting easier to plan for the week, and I don't feel like I'm constantly racking my brain to think of what to do with the kids. I feel like I have a pretty good schedule of rotating activities to work on goals along with plenty of resources if I need a fresh idea.

I'm feeling a lot more confident lately professionally and in my signing. I still have trouble with the signing but I can at least act my way through a small conversation if the interpreter is not there. And even in my stressful state, I've kept my tears at bay except for once today, when I was in the privacy of my office without anyone around. That was one of my fears when I started on my own. In past jobs, if I had to talk to a supervisor about something or if there was any conflict, no matter how hard I tried, I would cry. I'm getting much better at controlling that now.

I did have some fun this past weekend though. Saturday morning Chris's mom and grandma came over for breakfast and we made pancakes and sausage on the wonderful griddle that Chris' mom gave us for a housewarming gift. After they left, Chris and I went down to the City Market to walk around and check out the produce. One of the farmers there sells golden watermelon and it's sooo good. So we got one of those and a regular watermelon. We got some corn and some apples too. I'm going to make caramel apples with some of my kids on Friday so I thought I'd just pick them up while I was there. In the evening, Chris, Emily (one of the HI Specialist that I've become friends with) and I went to Oktoberfest in downtown Lee's Summit. It was so much fun to hang out and walk around the festival. Sunday was mostly a lazy day, doing some grocery shopping and getting homework out of the way. Tomorrow morning will be a little more lax because my morning student will be on a field trip so that's one less school to go to and an extra hour of planning for the week, which is always welcome, especially since I won't get my usual Wednesday plan time since I have to make up time that I'll miss on Thursday due to training.

Getting into the swing of things...

2009-09-07T11:27:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! It's been pretty busy and I've been tired in the evenings. I'm loving my job and I got some great feedback from a parent the other night. 6th grade curriculum night was last week so I stayed knowing that one of my kid's parents would probably be there. Afterwards we chatted for an hour. She kept talking about how happy she is with what we are doing. It seems that no one has ever taken the time with him since they moved to Kansas when he was little, which is really sad. He's a great kid, but really far behind academically. So I have a huge task of getting him somewhat caught up. She told me that after the IEP meeting before school started she was so happy that she sat in the parking lot and cried for 20 minutes (This was the one that lasted 3 1/2 hours). That just makes it so worthwhile to me, knowing that not only am I making a difference with my kids, but also with their parents. Some things that I'm doing that seem like common sense, like modifying book orders so that they are at his level and not getting 6th grade book orders, were never done for him before. It's also great to see him get excited about books, even though it's a story that's being read to him instead of reading it himself. Gotta start somewhere. So I'll be getting really friendly with the Magic Tree House books. They're pretty good books and go back in history, so he's learning about things on top of it. I'm also enjoying watching the stories signed, since he uses ASL. I don't really understand a whole lot of sign, but I'm learning and it's interesting to watch because there's so much expression involved. However, I still have my reservations about signed approaches, especially now that I'm trying to teach a 6th grader to read and can't really use traditional approaches. So much of reading is hearing, and while he can hear with his implant, attempts to teach him how to use it to listen were aborted when he went to a signing school.

Anyway, enough about that. It's been nice having a long weekend. I've relaxed a bit, but I did have to go up to school yesterday to work on planning since I didn't have plan time last week. Luckily it didn't take me too long. Today I've been trying to work on homework for Children's Lit and Speech and Language Development. It's been really hard trying to fit that in. I'm exhausted at the end of the day and the last thing I want to do is homework. But if I don't finish these classes, I won't have a job after this semester since they hired me contingent on getting provisional authorization for my teaching certificate in January.

9 more days till Chris moves in! I can't wait!

That's about all for now. I'm out.

2009-08-22T12:27:00.001-07:00

Well, I survived my first week! This week I mostly just observed my students and worked with them in the classrooms. I did pull one of my students on Friday, mostly because what the class was doing wasn't what he'll be doing. My kids and my coworkers are all great. This weekend I'll be planning for next week. My schedule is pretty packed. I was able to fit in a plan time 3 times a week for an hour, which is better than what I thought last week. I had to meet with my service coordinator yesterday about one of my students because I didn't have enough time in the week to fit all of his minutes in. But since his IEP didn't specify a hearing impaired teacher, we were able to get him in the learning center for the time that I can't be with him. Ah special education.

In other news, I got my new couch today! Isn't it pretty? It's nice not to have to sit on the floor...granted my TV is still on the floor so now I have to look down to watch it.

The Night Before School

2009-08-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow school starts! Yikes! I'm hoping that schedules work out. Right now it looks like we might have to rearrange where one of us goes. It's complicated. Basically there aren't enough minutes in the week for me to cover all my kids and drive between schools.

This past weekend was great. Chris was in town this weekend and had 2 interviews today! Yesterday we went out to Nebraska Furniture Mart and I found a couch. It's going to be delivered on Saturday. In the meantime, I put the air mattress in the living room cause I'm tired of sitting on the floor to watch TV.

I'm so nervous and excited about tomorrow. I'll post tomorrow when I get home and after I get my couch you'll get some pictures!

The Week Before Back to School

2009-08-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived new teacher training! Today all the teachers came back for the all-district meeting and then we had department meetings the rest of the day. The in-services we had today were really informative and gave me an idea of how they write goals and IEPs. Luckily, they're fairly similar to how we wrote them in my classes so that's good. Different districts have different ways of writing goals so I was glad it was similar to how I'd learned. Good thing we had that today because apparently my first IEP meeting is Friday! I won't be alone of course though since I'm not certified so my mentor will be with me. Plus, we're not sure if I will be servicing this particular student so we'll all have to attend.

I have a trunk full of stuff to take to my office at school but I haven't gotten back there this week since we've had meetings till 4 the past few days and I'm pretty much done then after sitting listening to gobs of information all day. I think Thursday I'll have a workday though to get things done.

I'm really excited for Saturday because Chris is coming in town for 2 interviews on Monday! I hope he gets something soon so he can get moved. I miss him terribly along with my kitties and furniture. It'll be nice when there's a couch to sit on instead of sitting or laying on the floor to watch TV. I'm coming back to St. Louis the weekend of Aug. 28th to take care of some things, which could end up being the weekend Chris moves too. We'll see. His mom and uncle are going to fly in to help him move when he does so that will be good. That way he can drive the moving truck and his mom can drive his car to KC. I'm going to bring the cats back with me when I come whether or not he moves that weekend. They have to be out of the apartment before he does the final walkthrough. I'll be glad to have them here when I get home from work to cuddle with. Granted I won't be glad to have the allergies back but I'll deal. I have for the past year anyway. Plus when my health insurance kicks in, I'll be able to get my Allegra-D again, which will help a lot.

Okay, I think I've rambled enough now. Can you tell I'm bored?

First Day of Meetings

2009-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today was my first meeting, which was my benefits meeting. When I got there I looked over in the car next to me and a friend from college was pulling up too! It turns out he's starting out as a choral director at one of the high schools. So it was nice chatting with him.

I've been really tired lately and having a lot of headaches. I think it's cause I haven't been taking my meds since I've been out and had no money to get more. I went ahead and ordered some so I guess I'll just have to put it on my credit card. I can't be tired like this all the time. I took a nap after my meeting and it helped for a little bit but now my headache is back.

Tomorrow I have my laptop meeting and I'll get my work laptop. Then I can sign up for insurance since Safari isn't supported by the website they use. No big deal.

That's all for now. I'm out.

2009-08-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Well, almost all of my stuff is moved in...granted that mostly consists of books and very little furniture. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but it's a bit messy and there's really not much different from the pictures I posted the weekend we signed the lease except for the boxes. And frankly, I've just been too lazy to take any. I tend to get really lazy when I'm lonely I guess.

I met one of my new neighbors today. I was in the office unpacking when I thought I heard someone at the door, but when I looked, there was no one there but I noticed that the door across the hall was open so I assumed that it was them I heard at their door. A few minutes later, I decided to run out to my car to grab some things I forgot and when I came back I saw there was an envelope taped to my door. There was a card from the neighbors across the hall welcoming me to the building and saying to let them know if I needed anything. So I thought I'd go over to thank them and introduce myself. Then when I went outside to do that, I looked down and saw a nice little welcome mat at the door. So I went over there and met my neighbor John, who lives there with his daughter. He was really nice and welcoming, letting me know that if there's ever a storm, he invites everyone down into the hallway of his garage if we need to seek shelter. So I thought that was nice. It's nice to feel welcomed by your neighbors instead of just moving in and never talking to anyone.

Then around 2:30 I got a call from the cable guy asking if I minded if he came early to set up my cable, which was awesome, since it's been kinda boring here without it. I need to figure out what friends actually still live in KC to hang out with. Patrick helped out with moving and was a huge help to my dad and me. Haven't seen Missy yet since she had a long work weekend, but hopefully we'll be able to get together this week when neither of us are working.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. I need to go to Best Buy at some point and get a new router since this one doesn't seem to want to work anymore. It's been kinda touchy for a while and half the time Chris's computer won't even pick it up so maybe it's time for a new one. We had the same one at my mom's and I just replaced it cause it wasn't working right with her iPod and apparently LinkSys doesn't support it anymore. It's not too big of a deal to hardwire to the modem right now, but once Chris gets here we'll need wireless.

We signed a lease!

2009-07-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Chris and I came up to KC last night so we could look for apartments. We looked a several places but none could compare to this one apartment complex called The Fairways. For all the amenities, we got a great deal with all the specials they were running. I'm so excited about it! This will be the first place that I really consider mine (or I guess 'ours' too!) since I've been living with my mom since I graduated from UMKC. Sure I had apartments before, but I had a roommate and they were just temporary for the school year. We're going to go back tomorrow morning on our way to breakfast so Chris's mom and grandma can see it and I'll take pictures, but for now if you want to see the complex you can go to http://www.aptsatthefairways.com. A big plus for us was that internet and cable are free for a year with them. Plus there's a beautiful pool, a carwash, and a 3-acre lake stocked with fish. I haven't fished in years but I would love to again even though I sometimes get impatient with it and I've never been able to properly bait my own hook...I've tried and the worm never stays on.

So next Saturday I'm loading up my dad's van and heading west again. I wish Chris could come but he has to work until noon so that might be a little too late of a start if we wait for him since the office closes at 5 on Saturdays. Since he still has a lease and a job until the end of September he's staying in St. Louis until he finds something in KC...keep your fingers crossed! So I won't have much furniture until he moves since I don't have any of my own furniture. I plan on saving up and getting a new living room and bedroom set. It won't be right away of course, but we have enough to go by now. We're heading back to St. Louis tomorrow after breakfast so we can get ready for my graduation/going away party on Sunday. I'm really excited to see everybody, especially since there are some people coming that I haven't seen in a while.

Well that's all for now! I need to remember to keep up with this thing a little better.

I Got A Job!

2009-07-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

You're reading the blog of Lee's Summit School District's newest teacher! I finally heard back from them with an offer and accepted the position. So in 2 weeks, I'm moving to KC and I'll start on Aug. 6th with new teacher orientation. I'm really excited and nervous at the same time. But I did get excellent training through Fontbonne and I'm confident that I have the tools that I need to get started. I also have a good group of people that I can get in touch with if I need help or advice.
Today my grandma had a graduation/going away party for me at her house. My uncle was in town from Phoenix too so it gave us an excuse to all get together anyway. We had a nice time...no fights, which is always a good thing.
Thursday night Chris and I are heading to KC to look at apartments on Friday and Saturday. I have a couple appointments set up so I'm sure we'll find something that we like.
Sorry I've been bad about updating. Erin informed me that I need to make sure that I update more after I move, so I'll try.
Not much else to report now. I'm really tired so sorry if this seems a little random and incoherent.

2009-06-16T17:23:00.001-07:00

Not much new to report right now but I thought I'd do a post anyway. I'm still waiting to hear back from Lee's Summit. I'm starting to wonder if the guy that I've been talking with went on vacation because he's usually pretty prompt to respond.

I started a new class yesterday and so far it's pretty interesting. Today we talked about labeling people. This has been a big issue for me since I was diagnosed with AD/HD. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone says "She's ADD." Umm...no, I'm Krystal. I have AD/HD, but it does not completely define me. It's a part of who I am, and I've learned to cope with it. In fact, I think that if I did not have AD/HD, I would be a totally different person. I'll never forget not long after I was diagnosed with AD/HD, I forgot to do something. My mom said "Oh she's ADD. That's why she did that." Before having AD/HD, she would have had the opposite reaction. Nothing about me changed...just the label, which changed my mom's expectations of me.

Are labels always bad? Not at all. Some kids need those labels to get the services they need.

Okay, enough of my soapbox.

The Waiting Game

2009-06-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

I was informed a few weeks ago that I needed to start a blog on here, so here it is. I'm warning you all though, I'm not so great at updating these things. Haven't even checked Xanga in months, but I don't think anyone else does either.

Right now I'm taking classes to finish up my master's this summer. I'm taking 7 hours and just finished a class at Meremac for teacher certification. After the summer I have 16 hours left to go before I can be fully certified. Which brings me to my waiting game...

Two weeks ago I got a call from the special services department at the Lee's Summit School District, wanting to know more about my certification status and to set up an interview. I happened to be going to KC the next week anyway, so I went ahead and accepted the interview, thinking "Hey, they know I'm not certified, but still want to interview me, that could be a good sign." The interview went really well, and he said that if I didn't qualify for temporary authorization, that I could possibly be hired on a substitute contract if they decided to offer me the position. The next morning, he called me back saying that they were very impressed and would like to offer me the position...but of course it couldn't be that easy. He had to call DESE, talk to my advisor at Fontbonne to find out my student teaching requirements, and talk to human resources to find out if things would actually work out. After talking with DESE and human resources, he informed me that I have to have less than 12 hours left of certification coursework, and that a substitute could only work 90 days in a school year so he couldn't offer me a substitute contract. Crap. I have 16 hours left. So he said to double check with my advisor and DESE to see what can be worked out and to make sure that was how many hours I had left. Then I had an idea! I emailed him and asked if it was possible to be on a substitute contract for the first semester, and then on a teacher contract the second semester since I would then be eligible for temporary authorization (or maybe even a full certificate). He said that he'd be open to looking into that option. Dr. Lenihan (my advisor) and I talked about a few student teaching options and things are starting to look up again towards being able to take the position. Now I'm just waiting to hear back to see what he's found out about that.

I know if it's not meant to be it won't happen, but I really would like to be able to take the position. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers that everything works out.