How Chrissy and I are Alike

When Christmas is woofing down his food and crying for more, I always joke that he takes after his "mommy". (That's me!) But the truth is, Christmas and I are a lot alike...

1. We both go to the bathroom first thing in the morning.

 

2. We both love to be warm! Christmas lays in sun squares and I wear my robe!

3. Both Christmas and I crave attention. It is true. However, we are both extremely independent and like to be loners. So we like attention, but only on our own terms!

4. We don't like people on our turf. The neighbor cat, Burrito, likes to walk the perimeter of our house. This is why Christmas pees in the corner. When the neighbor kids were walking through our yard as a short cut to the bus stop, I just sent Paul out to yell at them.

Burrito Watch!


Burrito hunting!

5. We love to eat. I mean, LOVE to eat.

6. We are both very determined. I wish you could have seen Christmas claw through a box of Cheez-Its. He is a marvel.




7. Christmas and I wear our emotions on our sleeve. Christmas cannot hide the way he is feeling and neither can I!


This is his "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!" face.

What do you and your pet have in common?

Thinking Out Loud: Jobs I Had

Thank you to Amanda @ Running With Spoons for this Thinking Out Loud link up! Today is all about... jobs!

This post ended up being longer than anticipated...

Oh well, I hope you enjoy a little history of all the different types of jobs I have had!

Baby-Sitter

When I was a kid, I loved reading The Baby-Sitter’s Club series. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to baby-sit. I actually usually didn’t mind baby-sitting because it was easy money. When I did mind it, it was because I would get bored or would have to get up early to do it. There were a few terrors I sat for, who shall remain nameless… But I have had a kid run away while I was baby-sitting and another kid chuck pencils at me. Yeah, those were good times...

Grocery Store Cashier

I loved working at grocery stores! I worked at a tiny one in my hometown, and then one summer during college, I cashiered at Giant. I am fast, organized, and friendly, so I was a good worker. I loved "dinging" the stuff through the scanner and I loved organizing my coupons. I know it is weird, but other than teaching, it was my favorite job!

Waitress

I worked at a restaurant as a waitress for about two weeks one summer. I hated it because I had no clue what I was doing. I was only 16 and had zero serving experience. Not only that, but I was barely trained. I had no clue how to work the computer or anything. I screwed up so many people’s orders. I’d serve them tuna salads instead of tuna subs. It was just a nightmare. I have never served again. (And yes, I am an awesome tipper!)

Choreographer

When I was a kid, I loved to make up dances! I would do it all the time with my friends. Turns out, I never grew out of it. I was still making up dances with my friends when I was in high school. In fact, if one of my friends approached me today and said, "Hey Megan, wanna make up a dance?" I'd be like, "Uh, YES I WANT TO MAKE UP A DANCE!"

My first official time doing choreography was our high school's production of Anything Goes. No, I am not a tap dancer, but I went to a really small high school where NO ONE could tap dance. I was savvy enough to make up a couple easy moves that anyone could do. During and after college, I started doing choreography for community theaters and also for the high school of the school district I worked in. I also performed in most of the shows I choreographed (but not all).

Some of the shows I choreographed: Anything Goes, The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz, Guys and Dolls, Footloose, The Will Rogers Follies, Damn Yankees, Beehive, Pirates of Penzance, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, 

Substitute Teacher

My first job out of college was substitute teaching. I remember my very first placement- a 2^nd grade classroom. During student teaching, the youngest I taught was 5^th grade, so these 2^nd graders looked like three-year-olds to me. I had no clue what I was doing and the classroom teacher left me horrible plans. “8:00-8:30 am = Opening Activities,” her lesson plans read. How was I to know what the opening activities were? Never fear. The second graders knew. They ran the classroom that day. I would just tell them what was next and they knew what to do. It was amazing to me. Now that I have actually worked at an elementary school for almost 10 years, 2^nd graders don’t seem very young to me- and I totally get how they’d be able to run their classroom themselves if they needed to!

8th Grade English Teacher

After graduating from college and subbing for awhile, I accepted a long-term subbing position for 8^th grade English. I didn’t have an English degree, but since the school was desperate, I got emergency certified in English and that sufficed.

I can tell you a few things about this experience…

1.    The pay was AWESOME. I was getting a first year’s teacher salary without all the insurance and retirement stuff taken out of it. In other words, my pay check was the same then as it is now- after 9 years of teaching. (Isn't that depressing!?)

2.    I really, really enjoyed teaching middle schoolers. I think it was because I could just talk to them like normal people and be sarcastic. It helped that it was a nice school with good kids.

3.    When we took the 8^th graders on a field trip to the state museum, our tour guide thought I was one of the students. (I looked reaaaally young when I was 22.)

4.    I had no clue what I was doing, but I didn’t know I didn’t know what I was doing, so I didn’t stress about it.

5.    At the end of the year talent show, I organized a group of teachers to dress up like the Spice Girls. I was Scary Spice. We lip synced and did a dance I choreographed to “If Ya Wanna Be My Lover”. A good friend of mine is now the guidance counselor at that school and apparently, 10 years later, that performance is still legendary and is stalked about among the student and staff. I must have left my mark! (Not as a teacher, but as a performer!)

Piano Teacher

I have been teaching private piano lessons ever since graduating from college. Boy have I learned a lot over the course of running my own little side business. I could tell you loads of awesome stories about my students and even the parents, but I’ll just pick one. Years ago, I had a student who’s mother would stand right beside the piano during her daughter’s lesson. If her daughter would hit a wrong note, her mom would correct her, chuckle, or make some other noise equally inappropriate. It took one or two lessons of this for me to gently tell the mother that perhaps sitting on the couch would enable her daughter to focus more. Nowadays, I’d tell someone like that to sit down right away! I guess I was too nice back then.

Elementary Music Teacher

This is my current job- general music- K-4 and 4^th grade chorus at a public elementary school. I have been doing this going on 10 years now and as long as the education cuts don’t get so bad that they eliminate the arts from school, I plan to stay here for the rest of my career!

Personal Trainer

As of August, I have opened my own personal training business called Megan Michael Training. I don't have too many stories about this one as I am still sort of new to the business. But so far, I have really enjoyed helping people make fitness goals and work toward them!

What types of jobs have you had?

Any substitute teaching/baby-sitting/waitressing horror stories?

A Day In My Life... 11-18-14

I like to do "A Day In My Life" posts once in awhile. Well my friends, today is one of those days! Here is more detail than you probably ever wanted to know about yesterday. Enjoy!

My alarm went off at 5:45 on Tuesday morning. That is a normal wake up time for me these days. Unfortunately, I could not fall asleep the night before, and was still lying in bed wide awake at 1:00. That’s what I get for being all cocky on Friday!

The cats had already had their breakfast around 2:45 (Paul gave in to their antics), so I didn’t have to feed them. But I did say good morning!

Jelly, looking bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Christmas says it’s too early for pictures!

Drinking coffee and fiddling on the computer for a few minutes is a great way to wake up. 

Although the weather report looked a bit scary…

Then it was time to layer up…

Layer #1                        Layer #2

Clearly, I am thrilled.

I headed out the door at 6:15. The good part about my run was that I was only cold when the wind blew. Otherwise, I was sweating. Luckily, it wasn’t that windy!

The bad part about my run is that I felt like I was running through thick molasses. I know my pace didn’t end up being bad, but the whole run felt like a huge effort.

When I got home, I stretched and foam rolled for 15 minutes, which is my new reality!

Sucking back coffee during my stretching session.

If I tell you how long it takes me to shower, get dressed, and head out the door to work, you will hate me. 15 minutes. Give or take 2 minutes. This is almost entirely because I lay out all my clothes and pack my lunch the night before.

I try to leave the house by 7:30, but I do take a moment to say goodbye to the kitties, even if it means I’m a minute late. They are worth it!

If they look a little perturbed, it’s because they just got done fighting!

Breakfast gets poured at home, but eaten in the car on the way to work!

Work was CRAZY. It was a cycle day 5, which meant not only did I have duty in the morning, but I had 10 classes with only a ½ hour break for lunch. Here are some shots of my classroom so you can get an idea where I spend my days...

You have a recorder on your desk at work too, right????

The obligatory running related motivational poster that is on my window.

4th Grade is learning recorders... fun times!

I have the same thing for lunch every day at noon. Chicken, broccoli, and some sort of carb. Today it was quinoa.

 

I waited until 3:00pm to have my snack. I was hoping it would hold me through piano lessons. Sometimes I have trouble spacing out my food on Tuesdays...

I get off work at 3:40. I get home at 4:00pm- just in time for piano lessons! Tuesdays are long... I have six lessons, so I teach until 7:00pm. By the time I was teaching my last lesson, I had lost my voice.

Where the magic happens.

I munched on some string cheese and wheat thins during one of my lessons.

It was either that or I was going to faint from hunger.

After a full day of work and 3 hours of piano lessons... margarita time!

After piano lessons, we played cards. Paul whooped my ass in Quiddler, but I whooped him in Casino and Monopoly Deal!

I got bored and started stacking cards on Jelly.

Christmas looks huge in this pic but he has actually been losing weight!

Dinner: lettuce with potatoes, chicken, cheddar cheese, and ranch on top!

Christmas wishes. He WISHES.

Dinner in front of the TV is the norm for me!

Paul is a dork and got a close up of my stupid socks.

After dinner, I watched some more of The View and Dr. Phil while I typed up this post and edited pictures. It was a lot of work! I did stop for some dessert. I eat dessert(s) every night because I love them so much.

Peanut butter and jelly cookie, milk, and vanilla pudding cup with chocolate chips.

Almost right after that, (9:30) I headed to bed to play Scrabble on my phone and fall asleep. I was exhausted!

That was my day! And it is very, very typical! The only thing I would say, is if it were a non piano lesson day, just insert a lot more computer/cards/TV time in where the piano lessons would occur. I love to be lazy, if given the chance!

What time do you normally get up in the morning? Go to bed?

How long does it take you to get ready for work?

Teachers, is my desk neater or messier than yours????

Christmas is Coming!

I love Christmas.  To prove how much I love Christmas, I named my cat Christmas.

Do you believe me now?

I feel like it is that weird time of year where it is a little too early to be excited for Christmas, yet it's already exploding on commercials and in the stores.

The thing is, I am normally very excited for Christmas by now! But this year, for some reason, I am not excited yet. Maybe it's because I have no clue what to get people for gifts. Maybe it's because the carols aren't on the radio yet. Maybe it's because it has only finally gotten cold out.

Whatever the reason, I am anxiously waiting for the morning I wake up and am suddenly super excited for the holiday season. I hope that morning comes soon!

Until then...

Are you excited for Christmas, or is it just too early for that?