So I'm not proud to admit this, but for the past few months my motivation for going to church has been so that little man could be baby Jesus in the Christmas pagent this year. I mean really...he's adorable and the perfect age....it's a once in a lifetime opportunity! The first few weeks of December came and went and I assumed that they didn't want a real baby Jesus. Shucks!
Then it happened....on Sunday I was approached and asked if I would be willing to let Evan be in the pagent as the one and only baby Jesus. I of course said yes. Fast forwad to Tuesday night and a phone call from the coordinator at the church. She wanted to discuss logistics. The conversation went something like this.
Me: Should he wear something special?
Church Lady: No...just something white. And we'll put him in the manger. Mary will be right next to him the whole time.
Me: Great. Who's Mary?
Lady: She's in 5th grade.
Me: Oh. Well, I'll jsut be sure to sit right in the front row in case I need to grab him.
(Awkward Pause)
Lady: Welllllll, we were hoping that you would be an angel. You don't have to wear wings or anything....
Me: Well ,I guess I could do that.
Lady: Great! Do you want to be a silver or gold angel? Oh, and you'll be the only adult on stage just so you know.
Me: Oh, okay. I'll just hide in the corner then so I'm not too obvious.
Lady: Oh no! We'll have you right up by the manger. It'll be great!
What!!!!! I think God was laughing at that trick. So I got my wish, but with a twist. This girl is officially the only adult angel in the children's christmas pagent. But my son gets to be Jesus. Sigh. The things I do for him already. I'm sure pictures are to follow....
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
A new mission....
So clearly I haven't been very good at this whole blogging thing lately. This OBVIOUSLY has nothing to do with the fact that once the little guy goes to sleep all I want to do is crash on the couch and has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that this website is blocked at work (the nerve!). I also think that one of my problems is motivation and direction. Is this a mommy blog? A teaching blog? A boring blog? All of the above? Sooo....I have a plan.
I'm inspired by two things: 1.)a great friend of mine who started a blog last year and wrote about monthly resolutions and 2) Pinterest. If you haven't checked out Pinterest, you have to! It's full of fabulous ideas about everything from cooking to fashion and has tons of inspiration on it. I have always attempted to be a craft/clever/creative person and often find myself falling short. Sometimes it is lack of time....othertimes its just that I kind of stink at crafts. Oh right...the plan...get back to it. The plan is that each month I will find some sort of project (even if its something as simple as a recipe) to try out and I'll blog about it. Don't worry....there will still be plenty of humor considering that most of the times that I try this my project are epic fails....and I promise to post pictures of everything. Even the fails.
So if this cute face isn't enough to keep you occupied:
I'm inspired by two things: 1.)a great friend of mine who started a blog last year and wrote about monthly resolutions and 2) Pinterest. If you haven't checked out Pinterest, you have to! It's full of fabulous ideas about everything from cooking to fashion and has tons of inspiration on it. I have always attempted to be a craft/clever/creative person and often find myself falling short. Sometimes it is lack of time....othertimes its just that I kind of stink at crafts. Oh right...the plan...get back to it. The plan is that each month I will find some sort of project (even if its something as simple as a recipe) to try out and I'll blog about it. Don't worry....there will still be plenty of humor considering that most of the times that I try this my project are epic fails....and I promise to post pictures of everything. Even the fails.
So if this cute face isn't enough to keep you occupied:
Hopefully my crafty things are :) This months project is going to be a quicky considering that it's already almost over. I have to bring in cupcakes to Evan's daycare on Friday for his birthday and figured I'd give these a shot. There aren't too many kids so it shouldn't be very time consuming.
The original post is found at a super awesome blog called With Sprinkles on Top. Stay tuned for the end result :)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Small victories
I have taken this long to write because I didn't want to write until I felt I could post something positive. And as I sit here in my classroom on my 7th day at the new job I'm finding that for the first time so far I'm excited for the kids to come in. Finally.
It was a rough first week. I started a job in a building where I didn't know procedure, curriculum, my students, expectations, or anyone else. Couple that with a few super challenging classes who are pushing boundaries after a month of school with substitute teachers and I found myself in tears over a glass of wine a few evenings last week.
Since then, I have had some small victories. My difficult class was quiet for a whopping 20 seconds yesterday and about 50% of them completed their assignment. Again....small victories. Considering that in that same class a random condom appeared on the floor on my second day and I'll take it. I have found some wonderful supports in my fellow teachers and am finally starting to feel a little more at home in my classroom. I am amazed at how quickly you get rusty! I've always been a natural teacher....my personality flows into my classroom, but I realized mid last week that I seemed to have forgotten how to do that. Luckily, I have since remembered and my students are noticing that.
I'm seeing glimmers of interest. We watched a news story last week about the NASA satellite that was falling back down to Earth and on Monday I had at least one student from each class ask me if it fell. Yea for engagement (even if it wasn't totally on topic)! I'm seeing a routine start to settle in. We're not there yet, but we're getting there. For those of you that teach, you know that there's a "honeymoon" period the first few weeks of school where its easier to lay the groundwork for your rules and expectations. I missed that honeymoon period and inherited classes with no rules and expectations in place. I have to keep reminding myself that today is only day 7....and that's a small amount of time to already be seeing improvements. Small victories....here we come....
It was a rough first week. I started a job in a building where I didn't know procedure, curriculum, my students, expectations, or anyone else. Couple that with a few super challenging classes who are pushing boundaries after a month of school with substitute teachers and I found myself in tears over a glass of wine a few evenings last week.
Since then, I have had some small victories. My difficult class was quiet for a whopping 20 seconds yesterday and about 50% of them completed their assignment. Again....small victories. Considering that in that same class a random condom appeared on the floor on my second day and I'll take it. I have found some wonderful supports in my fellow teachers and am finally starting to feel a little more at home in my classroom. I am amazed at how quickly you get rusty! I've always been a natural teacher....my personality flows into my classroom, but I realized mid last week that I seemed to have forgotten how to do that. Luckily, I have since remembered and my students are noticing that.
I'm seeing glimmers of interest. We watched a news story last week about the NASA satellite that was falling back down to Earth and on Monday I had at least one student from each class ask me if it fell. Yea for engagement (even if it wasn't totally on topic)! I'm seeing a routine start to settle in. We're not there yet, but we're getting there. For those of you that teach, you know that there's a "honeymoon" period the first few weeks of school where its easier to lay the groundwork for your rules and expectations. I missed that honeymoon period and inherited classes with no rules and expectations in place. I have to keep reminding myself that today is only day 7....and that's a small amount of time to already be seeing improvements. Small victories....here we come....
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A fresh start
A quick update….
In just a few short days I will be leaving behind my well worn desk chair, my keyboard tray that seems to accumulate crumbs faster than Alaska accumulates snow, and my dull grey-ish cube for the world of colorful whiteboard markers, office supplies galore, and of course kids. Yep, that’s right….I am officially a teacher once again.
To maintain anonymity (somewhat) and so I can continue this blog I won’t tell you where I got a job, but I will be teaching middle school general science. While I’m no stranger to teaching, I am new to the world of middle school. I’ll be trading my zitty kids for smelly ones and my horny ones for well….those hormones will still be flying I am so super excited to start, although I will be jumping into a classroom after the year has already started so I’m sure there will be a bit of an adjustment period for me and the kids.
Either way….the prospect of summers off, and vacations, and three day weekends, and snow days….well you get the picture. It will mean more time with my little man though which makes me oh so happy. I’m already looking forward to trips to the beach and museums and other fun things for next summer.
So here goes nothing…..now I just have to hope that I can control the trucker mouth that I have developed over the past few years :)
In just a few short days I will be leaving behind my well worn desk chair, my keyboard tray that seems to accumulate crumbs faster than Alaska accumulates snow, and my dull grey-ish cube for the world of colorful whiteboard markers, office supplies galore, and of course kids. Yep, that’s right….I am officially a teacher once again.
To maintain anonymity (somewhat) and so I can continue this blog I won’t tell you where I got a job, but I will be teaching middle school general science. While I’m no stranger to teaching, I am new to the world of middle school. I’ll be trading my zitty kids for smelly ones and my horny ones for well….those hormones will still be flying I am so super excited to start, although I will be jumping into a classroom after the year has already started so I’m sure there will be a bit of an adjustment period for me and the kids.
Either way….the prospect of summers off, and vacations, and three day weekends, and snow days….well you get the picture. It will mean more time with my little man though which makes me oh so happy. I’m already looking forward to trips to the beach and museums and other fun things for next summer.
So here goes nothing…..now I just have to hope that I can control the trucker mouth that I have developed over the past few years :)
Monday, August 15, 2011
I have an interview !!!!!!!!!!!!
And just like that summer is gone. Work has been CRAZY busy and I’m just now settling back into somewhat of a routine. Hence the update. Not much has changed in the Radz household…work is work….Evan is growing (and pulling up on things…yikes)…the house is still falling apart. Same old, same old. What is new is my job situation. Mainly that tomorrow at 12 noon, I have an interview to get back in the classroom! I have been wanting to get back in the classroom for some time now and finally have a few promising leads. Those who know me, know that I was meant to be a teacher. For those of you who don’t know me, here are a few of the reasons that I MUST get back in front of the kiddos.
Teaching is truly my passion. I find nothing more rewarding than getting kids to realize that they are amazing individuals and that even if (gasp) science is not their thing, they all have strengths. I love watching the “trouble” kids come alive with a little bit of support. I love the kids that come back after they’ve graduated to share their success stories. I love knowing that maybe, just maybe, I am the topic of conversation around the dinner table because a child learned something so fun that they just had to share it with their parents.
- I like hearing myself talk which means that I’ve started talking to myself….not good.
- I looooooove the kids. There is nothing like the relationships that you build when you see the same kids every day for a whole school year. It’s amazing to watch their successes and their failures and every once in a while you get that kid that comes along that makes you say, “Now THAT is why I’m a teacher.”
- I love buying school supplies….and without being a teacher I really have no reason to buy them and instead I look like the sad old lady at the office supply store buying colored pencils and fun paper clips.
- I am just not meant to sit at a desk. Sitting in front of a computer leads me to do troubling things like…well….talking to myself, giggling at absolutely nothing, yelling out random obscenities, stealing things from other’s desks for ransom, and other equally psychotic things.
- I want my summers back…and vacations….and 3 day weekends….and snow days I realize that sounds selfish, but really it’s all about more time with my little man.
- I need to have my own classroom that I can just close the door to from time to time. I realize that I will still be accountable for my work, but there’s nothing like being able to just do your own thing and run with it.
- I’m hilarious. No really….I am. Okay, so maybe day to day I’m not too funny, but something about being in front of 30 teenagers brings out the inner comedian in me. They even laugh with me sometimes! (Alright, maybe it’s at me….but it’s still laughing.)
- Where the heck else am I going to my funny stories from? Like the time the kid saw me at the movies and asked why I wasn’t at school….on a Friday night. Or the brilliant student who asked me if she dyed her hair if her unborn baby’s hair color would change. Or the ….well, you get the idea.
Anyways, fingers crossed that this interview goes well. Ah hell….cross your toes, arms, legs….whatever you can manage for me
Friday, July 15, 2011
My amazing burglary skills...
I figured it was Friday and a good day to post and even though I missed the MamaKat posting day I went to her for a prompt and came across this gem. Couldn't have been more perfect. Enjoy.
1.) Write about a time you had to crawl through a window.
It was a beautiful summer day...a bit on the hot side, but bright and sunny....perfect for getting a little tan on my glowing white skin. At the time, I lived in the third floor apartment and we had the cutest little deck off the back of the house that rested right on the peek of the roof from the floor below (picture this...its important later). I don my tiniest of bathing suits to avoid tan lines knowing that no one can see me on the back deck and grab my iPod, a towel, and a bottle of water and walk out, closing the one door back into the house behind me.
Fast forward about an hour later....I am sufficiently fried, my water is gone, and I'm starting to get a little woozy so I figure its time to head out of the sun and cool off. I gather everything up and go to open the door....and the knob doesn't turn. I try it again, thinking maybe the sun has gotten to me. Nope. Nothing. I have locked myself onto my little 6'x6' deck 3 stories up in 90+degree heat. Lovely. Panic sets in when I realize that I will be home alone for at least the next 5 hours! I could be dead by that point! So I take action.
If you read this normally, you know that I'm a fairly athletic person (klutzy yes, but somewhat coordinated when I need to be), so I haul bikini-clad self over the railing of the deck and lower myself onto the STEEP pitch of the roof below...and realize the black roof is burning hot! I try desperatly to scramble back up onto the deck, but can't quite get the leverage I need while alternating which foot I'm standing on. Realizing this will never work, I turn around and crab walk (not sure why that seemed intelligent) down the roof to the much flatter roof of the second story. Once there I find a little bit of shade and sit down to contemplate my next move. I look around to see if there's anyone I can call to....there isn't. Which is good because that also means that no one has seem the woman in the bikini just scale her roof, but bad because I'm still stuck two stories up. I look over the edge of the roof and try to calculate how far the drop would be if i hung all 5'3" of me from the gutter and figure that its prob still a good 20 feet....not doing that. Soooo I lay on my back on the roof of the second story and figure I'll wait for my lovely husband to come home and rescue me....and then I notice that I'm staring at the window of the 2nd floor apt. Wooh! I knock on the two windows that I can see and call to whoever may be inside...and no one answers. At this point, I'm desperate....hot, sweaty, practically naked, and a bit light headed....so I try to open the window...locked. To this day I'm still not sure how I actually got the window open, but I think I had one of those superhuman strength moments...and before I knew it I was in the apartment. I quietly closed the window and tiptoed through their apartment (not sure why I tiptoed...no one was home), out their front door, and back up the stairs to my apartment where I put some aloe on my burned to shit feet and took a well deserved nap.
How about you? Ever broken into anywhere?
1.) Write about a time you had to crawl through a window.
It was a beautiful summer day...a bit on the hot side, but bright and sunny....perfect for getting a little tan on my glowing white skin. At the time, I lived in the third floor apartment and we had the cutest little deck off the back of the house that rested right on the peek of the roof from the floor below (picture this...its important later). I don my tiniest of bathing suits to avoid tan lines knowing that no one can see me on the back deck and grab my iPod, a towel, and a bottle of water and walk out, closing the one door back into the house behind me.
Fast forward about an hour later....I am sufficiently fried, my water is gone, and I'm starting to get a little woozy so I figure its time to head out of the sun and cool off. I gather everything up and go to open the door....and the knob doesn't turn. I try it again, thinking maybe the sun has gotten to me. Nope. Nothing. I have locked myself onto my little 6'x6' deck 3 stories up in 90+degree heat. Lovely. Panic sets in when I realize that I will be home alone for at least the next 5 hours! I could be dead by that point! So I take action.
If you read this normally, you know that I'm a fairly athletic person (klutzy yes, but somewhat coordinated when I need to be), so I haul bikini-clad self over the railing of the deck and lower myself onto the STEEP pitch of the roof below...and realize the black roof is burning hot! I try desperatly to scramble back up onto the deck, but can't quite get the leverage I need while alternating which foot I'm standing on. Realizing this will never work, I turn around and crab walk (not sure why that seemed intelligent) down the roof to the much flatter roof of the second story. Once there I find a little bit of shade and sit down to contemplate my next move. I look around to see if there's anyone I can call to....there isn't. Which is good because that also means that no one has seem the woman in the bikini just scale her roof, but bad because I'm still stuck two stories up. I look over the edge of the roof and try to calculate how far the drop would be if i hung all 5'3" of me from the gutter and figure that its prob still a good 20 feet....not doing that. Soooo I lay on my back on the roof of the second story and figure I'll wait for my lovely husband to come home and rescue me....and then I notice that I'm staring at the window of the 2nd floor apt. Wooh! I knock on the two windows that I can see and call to whoever may be inside...and no one answers. At this point, I'm desperate....hot, sweaty, practically naked, and a bit light headed....so I try to open the window...locked. To this day I'm still not sure how I actually got the window open, but I think I had one of those superhuman strength moments...and before I knew it I was in the apartment. I quietly closed the window and tiptoed through their apartment (not sure why I tiptoed...no one was home), out their front door, and back up the stairs to my apartment where I put some aloe on my burned to shit feet and took a well deserved nap.
How about you? Ever broken into anywhere?
Monday, July 11, 2011
Another day....another pound?!?
At the beginning of last week I started a diet. This would be unremarkable for most people, except that I typically don't believe in dieting. I'm known to tell anyone who says they are on a diet to "just eat in moderation...you'll be fine!". That was before....when I was already skinny. Easy to say then. Fast forward to today....and my post baby body is still not quite back to normal...and I have a stubborn ten pounds that just don't want to budge (really, I could probably stand to lose 20 lbs, but I'll settle for the 10).
The diet that I started is called the slow carb diet and basically involved me eating lots of protein and veggies and very little carbs. I should really only eat carbs when I'm working out, which I'm not doing, so I really eat practically nothing. The cool thing is that I'm allowed a cheat day once a week where I can eat ANYTHING that I want to (yummo!). So I started this last week and I've already managed to lose 5 lbs! I'm sure that that'll come back a bit, but I also know that for me once I lose weight I'm pretty good at keeping it off....so bring on the crazy diet! Wooh! Wish me luck :)
The diet that I started is called the slow carb diet and basically involved me eating lots of protein and veggies and very little carbs. I should really only eat carbs when I'm working out, which I'm not doing, so I really eat practically nothing. The cool thing is that I'm allowed a cheat day once a week where I can eat ANYTHING that I want to (yummo!). So I started this last week and I've already managed to lose 5 lbs! I'm sure that that'll come back a bit, but I also know that for me once I lose weight I'm pretty good at keeping it off....so bring on the crazy diet! Wooh! Wish me luck :)
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