Favorite Teaching Moments

In true Lazy Girl fashion today.....stayed home from the freezing cold 5k, slept until 11:00 (which I never do!) and watching DVR-ed shows I needed to get caught up on. Needless to say, it has been a very busy week. I can't believe the school year is almost over. There are so many things I want to accomplish before the end of the year. Boy, you can tell I am a first-year teacher! The rest of the teachers can't wait for that day to come!
Due to my laziness and lack of any running to write about, I thought I would post some pictures of my favorite first-year teaching moments! (I don't post student pictures online, but those are much more interesting!)

Coffee House Poetry Day
Students read their favorite poems, while drinking hot cocoa, snacking on cookies and bowls of pretzels placed around our dimly lit room. I played Miles Davis in the background, and we relaxed in the transformed staff break room with the atmosphere of a beatnik coffee shop, with lamps, twinkle lights, and (unlit) candles. The kids and I wore black, sunglasses, and berets!

My favorite piece! A little spray paint from the garage, Christmas lights, and a room divider....amazing!

Lilacs and Bleeding Hearts in vases and coffee cups

Seuss on the Loose Scavenger Hunt
I set up scenes from Dr. Seuss books all over the school and invited classrooms via "Top Secret" letters, to go on the scavenger hunt and try to figure out the book titles. They were so cute, and some classes brought magnifying glasses, to help in their "investigation!" I sent them to each location with photo clues and fun "Did You Know" facts.

See if you can figure out what books the scenes are from!

How awesome is the slime dripping from the letters?!

The classes dropped off their "Investigation Logs" in the office. I had a drawing from the basket to determine the "winner" and that class had a Green Eggs & Ham Party the next week.

These two activities were a tremendous amount of work and I spent many hours working on them, especially Seuss on the Loose. Thanks, Beth and Eric, and fellow teachers who helped me set up and lent me materials!
The time and effort was all worth it, when I saw how much the children loved the scavenger hunt and coffee house!

Should probably be running.....

I accomplished some of my goals last week...

1. Coffeehouse Poetry Day was a huge success! (I will post pictures later.)
   
2. I ran twice.
3. That's it. I didn't bike or plant veggies. I didn't exactly rot, but I was busy with other things.
   

We were out of town visiting Joel's family all weekend, so that is my excuse for my lack of accomplishment! I did manage to run over the weekend, even being out of town. That's pretty good for this un-motivated girl!

This Saturday is the 10K that has become a 5K, due to my lack of running over the last month! After my Gaelic Gallop 8K, I thought I would try to run this 10K next. Well, here I am, 3 days away from the race, and have not run nearly enough to enable me to run a 10K without dying. It would have been a good one, too, because it is on a crushed limestone trail....the beautiful Heritage Trail. This would have been easier on the ol' legs.Doesn't it just look sooo peaceful?!

Another reason I would have liked to do the 10K...my grandpa died while working on the Heritage Trail when I was very young. There is a sign honoring him along the trail, and it would have been neat to run by his sign while completing my first 10K.

There is always next year....I should come back and read this blog next year, so I remember my reasons for wanting to run this particular race!

I am still going to run the 5K....I know I can do that!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! And Happy Birthday to my Karate Kid!!!

Rotting Away

I am staying true to the title of this blog! I have not run, or biked, or even briskly walked, in a couple of weeks. Maybe I was just getting a little too ambitious for me, and the ol' machine just broke down for a bit! Or the gears were getting over-worked in other areas, like my brain!

Teaching is like an on-going brain-teaser! It will keep a person sharp. It will work your brain better than any crossword puzzle or game of Sodoku. A teacher's brain is always on, ready for the next question or challenge that will inevitably be fired their way.
This is probably why I am so tired at the end of the day. This is also what I LOVE about my job! I don't want a job that I can mindlessly "get through" each day. I want to be challenged, and I am! Everyday. Which is why I also want to take a 4 hour long nap every afternoon!

Enter this weekend...
Dreary, rainy, generally icky weekend = Rotting on the couch for most of the weekend

I am going to chalk it up to a very busy, brain-busting week at work! My classroom is being used as an example to the other teachers of how to teach reading! This is a wonderful compliment to me, but also a little stressful, with teachers studying my room and my teaching strategies! Also, I am attempting a "coffeehouse" poetry reading event on Thursday for National Poem in Your Pocket Day. Oh, why do I do this to myself?!

By the way, carry your favorite poem in your pocket on Thursday and share it with whoever will listen!

My hopes for this week....
-Keep taking on these wonderful challenges
-Don't let these wonderful challenges take over my life outside of work (yeah right!)
-Run a few times
-Bike a few times (RAGBRAI training starts this week)
-Dig up some dirt for my new vegetable garden
-Stop the rotting
-Smile a few times!

We'll see......

My Weekend In Photos

This post has nothing to do with running or biking or exercising...but it was just a great, relaxing, domestic-y weekend and I wanted to share!

First up....We had dinner Friday at a great little restaurant 3 blocks from our house. It closed a while ago, and just reopened as a cafe/diner-y place. Very good food, cheap prices, but best of all.....I discovered that I now have access to PIE 3 blocks from my house!!! Oh man. This is bad.

I did not actually get pie that night, because Joel surprised me with a fantastic suggestion...my favorite ice cream store on the other end of town that he never wants to go to! (I should note that we also have a Dairy Queen 3 blocks from us!) But this place....oh man...homemade ice cream. Delicious. And it brings back so many childhood memories, because we used to live across the street from this great little shop. As I write this, I realize I have a lifelong habit of living within walking distance of some very dangerous places!! Hmmm....

Red Box-ed The Informant...Joel fell asleep 20 minutes in....decent movie, but not as good as I expected!

Saturday

Cleaned the house....

Joel recently pulled up the ugly carpet on our back porch, on a whim, and discovered beautiful hardwood! So he spent a week sanding and staining the floor. It looks great but now we have to re-do the walls! So we went on the search for mis-tints, the best kept secret of paint stores! We got 2 gallons of beautiful paint at Sherwin Williams for a grand total of $8.46!
I saw this pillow at Target and fell in love with the color and design. This was my "inspiration piece!" The color is off in this picture, but you get the idea! Our paint is a pretty colonial blue-ish.

Grocery shopping on Saturday instead of Sunday night is MUCH better! And Joel loves his samples!

Bought a pizza from the Hy-Vee Pizza Italian place...1/2 Tomato Margherita, 1/2 Spinach and Artichoke and then grilled it! Oh my gosh....we should always grill pizza!! So good! The next step is making homemade grilled pizza!

Grill Master

Annie wants some pizza too!

Meanwhile, I was making homemade hummus with my new food processor Joel's parents got me for Christmas. It's a lot easier than trying to make it with an old blender!
I LOVE hummus, but the organic stuff I like is expensive. The non-organic stuff has so many preservatives. Solution: Make my own! And it is delicious!

After supper...nice long walk with Annie!

If we ask her "Want to go for a walk?" she begins to whine and "sing!" This is her outside the door singing at us..."Come on, you teases! Let's go!" We like to torture her for a few minutes for our pure enjoyment!

I love the blurry puppy feet and Joel feet!

Stopping to smell the tulips!

I'm obsessed with the beautiful flowering trees that are blooming so early this spring! This one is a pear tree, according to the master!

Sunday

I worked on all of my lesson plans for the week, while soaking up the sun outside! After a long winter with extreme cabin fever, I just want to be outdoors all the time!
This Natalee Dee cartoon is right on! I should print it and hang it in my classroom, so the kids will be inspired to come out of their video game comas and play outside!

Reading my favorite "teacher book" to brush up on reading strategies for this week's lessons!

For dinner, I attempted a new Artichoke Pasta recipe and it turned out great! We ate outside, of course!

The funniest way to tease Annie....hang spaghetti over her nose. Her lips and whiskers twitch like crazy and she looks.........

.....EVIL!!!

Ahhhhh....the simple joys in life!! Take time to appreciate all the things in your life that make you smile!!

Back to the Couch!

Well, I sprained my ankle. My normal clumsiness got the best of me. Literally. After running down a hill with the doggie, I turned around to shout at Joel, rolling my ankle. Now, my ankle gets rolled a lot. I can be walking on a completely flat surface, and my ankle will act like I just stepped into a cavernous hole. Normally, I recover pretty quickly, just suffering from a little embarrassment, but this one took me down.
Note about me: When I fall down, I cry like a 5-year old! Every time.

It was a very pain-filled night, but it is getting progressively better each day.

So, no running for me for a while. Am I sad about that? What do you think?!

Weekend Running & RAGBRAI

Weekend Running Update:
I woke up Saturday morning and, like an idiot, decided to go for a run. My amazing 45-minute solo run last week inspired me to keep it up. Well, my body rejected running this weekend. I'm pretty sure it was screaming at me the whole 20 minutes! "WHAT are you doing?! STOP running! Are you crazy?!" So, for once, I listened! I turned around halfway down the floodwall and headed back, miserable the whole way. I wonder if this is normal? A stubborn, angry set of legs, dead-set against running? Or is it Lazy Girl rejecting this new Un-Lazy Girl suddenly trying to make an appearance in our blissfully inactive life? Hmmm.....
We struck a balance with a delicious pasta dinner and a movie, though. Not to worry, Lazy Girl is never far away!

I really need to start biking again! RAGBRAI (The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), an annual seven-day bicycle ride across Iowa, starts in 103 days. I am going to attempt to ride it this year, with Joel, and our friend Doug's RAGBRAI team. There is a very good chance I may die in this feeble attempt. So, I need to train. Many people who have biked RAGBRAI say it's just a week-long party and not to sweat it. You basically eat homemade pie and drink beverages! But, party or no party, I will still be cycling 442 miles, with up to 82 miles in one day! So this Lazy Girl is going to train! My training could become part of this blog too. Last summer, my endurance on the bike was really improving, through participating in several group rides. Anyone who knows the country roads of Southwestern Wisconsin can attest to how hilly they are. Biked them. Almost died on them. Hate them. But...I will probably have to tackle them again, to prepare myself for RAGBRAI. Ugh.
I have always thought RAGBRAI would be fun, but this year turned out to be the perfect year for us to try it. It is one of the flattest and shortest routes in its 38-year history, and it ends right here in our hometown! It's fate. I've got to give it my best attempt, I suppose.

Springtime Inspirations! And Exclamation Marks!!

I have not posted in so long, but when real life calls, I guess I have to answer! Lesson planning has doubled now that I am also teaching a Gifted Writers Program in the afternoons. Up until now, I taught Reading in the mornings only. I have also had the excruciatingly heavy weight of my future weighing on me....which means resumes and cover letters galore! It's amazing how two pieces of paper can take up so much of your time, and be such a deciding factor for your future!
In the mean time, this Lazy Girl has actually been somewhat un-lazy (non-lazy??)!
Somehow, I have inspired a few of my friends to start running! I find myself thinking "what kind of messed up world are we living in, if I am an inspiration?!" I don't know if it's because of the blog, or my recent completion of an 8K. Maybe those friends could comment here...what on earth made me inspire you to run???

My St. Patrick's Day 8K was an unexpected turning point for me. It took me 57:10 to complete, but I ran the whole thing. My only goals were to run most of it and in under an hour. I nearly cried at the end, when I saw the beautiful McDonald's sign that told me I was almost done! I thought about a year ago, when I could not have run a mile, let alone 5 miles! Ever since this race, something changed. I actually kind of want to run! (Sometimes!) What is this?? Who am I??

Last week, I went out and ran 45 minutes by myself!! Over 3 miles! With no one forcing me!
My friend Beth started running with me. We are doing Couch to 5K and she has completed Week 1...now I have to get her moving onto Week 2! My friend Crystal also went running with me. It is so strange being the one people hate! I'm used to being the hater/gasper/dying girl at the end of the invisible leash. The boyfriend, Joel, and I went out for our first big bike ride in preparation for RAGBRAI and I had to walk the bike up three hills! More to come on this goal later!!! We've been taking the doggie for nightly walks, which she loves! I ran an impromptu Easter 5K this weekend with Joel's family. It consisted of some very brutal hills but I conquered them!
It's a good life! Spring makes me so happy! I'm like a big bear, coming out of hibernation! We'll see how long it lasts, before the bear just wants to crawl back in the cave!