Sew Much Better

 I learned a lot of lessons teaching my first batch of kids how to sew. I had a new batch this past week and it went so much better! I mostly had to slow down. I was feeling like I wanted to hurry and sew a few things and put the sewing machines away because they clutter up the room and I was worried it was bugging Janet. Luckily Janet is rolling with it so I felt less pressure so I can just take some time and give the kids more time to get comfortable with the machines. It went much better. I appreciate her so much! 

I've started getting up early to study for my test before work. I think for the next two weeks I will try to get up and study for an hour before work. My test will be done in two weeks. I really hope I pass! I turned in my ISU assignments for my class I'm taking right now. I just want to check off this extra crap off my list so I'm only worrying about my job and my home life. 

The kids have been begging to see the puppies again and Krista was kind enough to let us come over again. Those puppies are SO cute! My kids are in love.

I asked the kids to clean up the front room and then Ryan had to empty the silverware from the dishwasher and he was like after I just finished my other job. I told him I had been working ever since I got up and I went through the things that I had done so far, he said, "that must be rough for you." Ha. He is so funny. He cracks me up every day. 

I got my second moderna shot today. So far I just have a sore arm. I've heard of quite a few people that have gotten pretty sick with the second dose so I'm hoping that's not the case for me. I preemptively emaield my principal about working from home tomorrow though since Mondays are online days (until March 29th). Fingers crossed I don't get a fever or worse. 

Our dryer broke again today. I am over it. We are ordering a new washer and dryer but we won't get it for a few weeks. So annoying! Oh well. I am excited to get new machines though. It's time! 

Another cute note from Ryan.

Gabby drew this picture for her friend. 

Cute puppies! And kids!

Sewing Unit

 I made it through my first week of trying to teach 8th graders how to sew! I've been nervous about this since I started the job. I learned a lot last week. I have a new group of kids this week and I think it will go better. I just have to go very slow and explain EVERY step, you know like cutting straight and having push pins go through the fabric and lay flat. EVERY step! It was very tiring going from student to student to student to help pin, cut, thread the machine, etc. while also trying to teach them so they could be independent but also not spend very much time with one student since at least three students need help at the same time. Ha. Makes me tired to think about. This week will go better though I think. Wish me luck! 

I took a practice Praxis test yesterday. I got 91 our of 120 questions right so that felt pretty good but it's scored super weird so I don't know if that would have been a passing grade. I have three more weeks so I will just try to study as much as I can stand and hope for the best. I also will be learning my fate in the next few weeks. The teacher I am filling in for has to tell the school district March 1st if she is coming back next year or not. I may have to start filling out job applications soon. We will see! 

Corbin got some awards from school for a being a good and responsible student. Yay Corbin. 

Ryan is working hard on his reading. He finished a long book that I told him I would pay him for. After he finished he said, "Did you say once I could have two dollars if  I read that book?" me: "Ya I did," R: "Can I have it?" me: "I think I only have $1. R:"Holy crap, we're broke." It was so funny!

Gabby's B-Day Weekend

Work is pretty much same old. I had my formal evaluation from my Principal on Thursday. It went okay. There were a few dumb things like I passed out candy before he came in and some of my students were eating suckers when he was in there (doesn't look good to have masks off). DUMB! Oh well. The class he visited is my worst class so that's not great. I did okay and they did okay but it wasn't amazing. Ha. I think it will be fine but whatever...it's done so HUZZAH! This week we are busting out the sewing machines so I'm trying to figure out how to teach them that. Note list of things to do. Ha. 

Boise school district didn't have school last Friday, I have no idea why not. I was definitely ready and excited about a 4 day weekend though! Nana, Papa, Colie, and Rustin came up Friday late afternoon to visit for the weekend for Gabby's birthday. It started snowing on Friday and snowed through half the day on Saturday. We haven't had this much snow since snowmageddon in 2017. It's been crazy! We drove downtown in a snow storm to have an Elmer's Gabby birthday breakfast. We later went swimming at the hotel and had pizza in the hotel lobby. It was fun. The pool was too cold for me as usual. I actually swam in it for awhile though. I was trying to double it as my workout for the day so I stayed in for a bit. 

We've been hanging around today. We got to go visit Ruby's cute puppies again today. I bought some supplies for my cricut and used it to help make Ryan's 100 poster for school. People are cozied up real tight in the shed watching Lord of the Rings. I have no idea what the plan is for tomorrow but I will probably need to do some work or school at some point. I really need to start studying my flash cards that I finally finished writing. 

Before

After

Our "Super Bowl" snacks! We went all out. YUM!

My stack of flash cards that I really need to start studying ASAP.

Check out that snow! So pretty!

Gabby is 11! Happy Birthday Gabby

I think Spot is my favorite puppy. So CUTE!

Ryan's school poster.

I got flowers from Scott and Nana! 

The Valentine Rascal decided to be a real rascal and get the loudest present. Oy. I want the Valentine rascal to come back and paint my baseboards in a few months. Ha.

Swimming!

Gathered in the lobby after eating pizza.

 

Tic Tac Toe!

For some reason the hotel used hand towels for their swimming towels. I had about 7 towels draped all over me! So dumb! 

Lord of the Rings Party. Corbin is in the bean bag in the front.

Chess!

Super Bowl of Sorts

 I made it through the week! Huzzah! Wednesday I was pretty stressed trying to figure out my lesson and then writing the detailed lesson plan. Luckily Janet helped me! I'm so glad I've been able to work with her this year. She has been a total lifesaver. My lessons went fine it was getting ready that was more stressful. I had to record it for my ISU professor and I borrowed the school's camera and the stupid teacher gave me a full sd card. I was SO annoyed. My recording didn't work because of that. Luckily I thought about having a backup just in case something went wrong. The recording is not good but hopefully it's good enough! On my second lesson on Friday I had a student burn himself front and center of the camera. Classic! Oy. I got a new sd card and that recording worked. I haven't gotten the observation feedback from my assistant principal but I'm sure I did fine.

On Friday night Scott and I went on a date and bought ALL the snacks for the Superbowl. Neither of us could care less about watching the game but the snacks are epic! Right now we are watching Lord of the Rings. I think we will turn on the game for a bit at some point. Maybe. I'm here for the snacks! After I write my blog post I will do some grading. There is no way I could actually sit and just watch football. Ha. 

Yesterday I was staring at my yellow backsplash and thinking how I thought blue would look better so I went for it. I had leftvoer paint from my front door and I painted it yesterday. I also ordered new black bar stools to go with the new wall. I think it will look really good. I can't wait! I needed a change in the kitchen. My chairs should come in a week and I will post before and after pictures. 

My friend Krista has an adorable dog that our family loves. Gabby has dog sat for her a few times. She had puppies! My kids wanted to go and see them. She ended up inviting us to her son's birthday party at Urban Air and then we got to go see the puppies. The kids had so much fun at Urban Air and they are in LOVE with the puppies. 

I made those Valentine decorations when Corbin was in Kindergarten for a party. I put them up in my room.

ALL the snacks!

Ryan has been sleeping on our floor lately. I thought this looked so funny to wake up to! 

Before (The girls were very sad and did not want to get rid of the yellow).

I let the girls help me paint a little. 

Sort of after. I want to wait for the bar stools for a real after. I also scrubed the kitchen down. It needed it! 

I thought big pictures might be cute here in the hallway but then I got them and I was like WOAH big! Ha. They will take some getting used to

I bought my first house plant. I hope I can keep it alive! 

Scott timing the car apple tree.

Urbain Air

So cool! 

The kids are in LOVE!

It's Almost Febraury!

 Phew, I made it! Ha. As the week went on I calmed down a bit and was okay. I had my meeting with my mentor teacher and I cried and I was totally embarrassed. Ha. But oh well, considering the school year that I jumped into it's kind of amazing it took me this long to cry. She helped me get my stipend which was a relief. My schedule ended up without really have a prep time and I was supposed to be compensated for it and I had emailed the principal many times over it he was never very helpful with any information about it and it was SO awkward. My mentor teacher had me reach out to someone in HR and it turns out I am getting the full stipend over the next few months. I'm so relieved and that felt like a big win. It feels good to be  compensated and helps me deal with the lack of time I have been given. The lucky thing about my schedule is that with my Junior High classes it's a lot of initial prep work but then I get to repeat it and it lasts for two weeks. So bit by bit I will plan as I go. This week is a big week.I have to write some really detailed lesson plans and be recorded and observed by the principal twice for a stupid ISU class. I will be a new woman Friday at 10:00. Can't wait. Wish me luck.

We are almost in February. Hip hooray. I hate January for real. I got my first dose of the covid shot today. We will see if I become radioactive or if I've had a chip implanted. Ha.

Ryan left this note on my bed stand. So cute!

I helped Gabby make a hand warmer and then she made one for Piper and Ryan by herself. When I get brave enough this will be the first sewing project I have my students do.

Adjusting

Well, this last week was crazy. I will hopefully adjust soon and get into a new groove. Luckily the way the schedule is set up the kids at home and in-person switch so this coming week I get to repeat what I did last week. Phew, but it's still a lot. I'm teaching three different classes so planning and keeping track of the different things on top of planning and grading in-person lessons and assignments and at-home lessons and assignments. Woof. Plus I see my high school students twice as often (weird schedule at the junior high) and I have to plan double for them (although they are kind of a slacker bunch in general and I have to cut back the material, ha). It's a lot. For my praxis test, I found a website with flashcards. I'm 16 minutes into a 55-minute video and I have over 100 flashcards already. I try to write 10 a day. I might need to up it to 20 since there are so many and I need time to actually study them as well. Hopefully, they will help. The praxis is such a big comprehensive test. At least it's something I feel like I can do to prepare for it. Hopefully, it will be beneficial. 

It is better to have students come in-person it's just harder and more complicated. It's so fun teaching a class kids like. They love to cook. I've been cutting back this month since Christmas and I'm so proud of myself because last week I resisted lemon cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, and donuts. Oy. This job is testing my self-control. Ha.

Scott's latest OCD project has been compiling favorite quotes. He's been working on it for about 1 1/2 years and I thought he was done. He narrowed it down from 56 pages to one that he wants to print and make into a poster board. But upon finishing he realized he had hardly any quotes from women so he went back to work and starting going down many rabbit holes. To date he is through the medieval philosophers and the project is now at 221 pages. He can be seen on his computer reading through quotes and picking his favorite whenever he isn't at work. I mean he has to do something while he waits to obsess about his fruit trees.  

Piper really wanted to make a recipe from the Cheerios box. She made honeycomb bars. She was so proud of herself! 

Ha Scott took a picture of me while in the kitchen. I have a habit of leaving all the cupboards open while cooking. Ha. 

Love this thing! 

Piper and Ryan helping me with roblox again. 

Gabby made a cover for her Kleenex box and fancied up her tape dispenser. She can do a lot with hot glue!

 

New Semester

 This last week was kind of crazy. I was a pile of stress all week trying to jump back in and do all the things. We started a new semester so I had new students and new classes and I was trying to figure out how to sign up for some classes from ISU. Their website is not user friendly. I finally ended up being able to sign up for 1 class and I signed up to take the Praxis in March. I'm really nervous about getting ready for it. It covers so much material and so many different subjects psychology, nutrition, and food science, textiles, interior design, finance, FCS history. Not to mention I am not good at tests like that. I did find a youtube video with a bunch of flashcards to help me study. I hope it helps. I hope I pass! Luckily school was online so I had a lot of time to get some things figured out for the week and next week. Students are coming back in person this week. I'm excited but it's a lot more work. I don't have a lot of prep time plus I have to go to the grocery store and fabric store after school to buy the stuff I will need in class.  I think things will be a little chaotic this week getting used to the transition. Luckily my ISU class this semester seems pretty dumb and simple so that's good. I just have to jump through a bunch of hoops for a bit. I will be excited to get through this next week and get into a groove. 

Nothing new going on with Scott and the kids. Work and school. Gabby was sick so she missed the whole week which was annoying. She didn't seem that sick and I would have made her go back to school but I couldn't do that because of the rules dealing with coronavirus. We got a doctor's note for her to go back to school next week. We are halfway through January. I'm so glad. It's my least favorite month! 

We decided we wanted a bean bag for the shed. We went and ordered a love sac (they are spendy) and then my friend offered her bean bag to us. We went and picked it up and put it in the shed. We decided to just wait and see how the love sac was before we decided what to do. We got the love sac and it's so much more comfortable. We don't know what we are going to do. Maybe keep them both. Ha. 

Gabby fell asleep on the way home from picking up my friend's bean bag.

Gabby painted this picture for an art competition. (Escape through art).  

Piper and Ryan trying to help me play roblox. Murder me!

Gabby's baby Yoda.

I made the kids help me make dinner.