"This is my passion."

As I have said before, this school year is a special kind of crazy because I took on the 4th grade instrumental program at my school. That means I am now doing the job of 1.5 teachers. It has been stressful, busy, and I have often questioned whether taking on instrument lessons was a good idea. Is my health, my sanity, and the suffering of some of the parts of my job worth it?

The answer is a resounding YES.

I have a student (let's call him B) who plays the saxophone. B practices his instrument every day, teaches himself new notes, reads about the new skills and concepts on his own, and has thus worked ahead of the other students.

B's success is attributed to lots of things. He's very bright to begin with and probably has some innate musical talent as well. He also has supportive parents who recognize playing an instrument is something he would both enjoy and excel at.

But the main reason for B's success is what he told me yesterday morning while he was putting his instrument together in my room. You see, I invited B to play his saxophone in the stairwell yesterday morning so as the students filed to their classrooms, they could hear him play. I wanted to reward B's hard work and I also wanted the other students to see what they could achieve if they worked hard too.

"I could barely sleep last night, I was so excited," B told me. "This is my PASSION," he said.

And there you go. THAT RIGHT THERE makes all the stress and missed lunches worth it. B will no doubt play the saxophone for the rest of his school career. I see him in county band and district band. I see him in marching band. I see him making friends and memories and beautiful music. I think back on all my awesome memories from band and I know for sure that B is going to get to have those memories too. 

My excitement isn't just for B. There are going to be so many students I am teaching this year who will continue with band for the rest of their time in school. And they get to have those experiences because they had the OPPORTUNITY to play an instrument in 4th grade.

So the next time I am hungry, stressed, and feeling like I'm not a good teacher, I am going to remind myself what B and the rest of my students are going to get out of this. And knowing that makes it ALL worth it!

I want to stop biting my nails.

I have been a nail biter my whole life. I very rarely get the desire to try to stop biting them. Normally, I bask in my nail biting glory and just go to town whenever I feel like it. It's a habit of boredom and a habit of nervousness, for sure. I feel like there may have been two times in my life- three TOPS that I stopped biting my nails and was able to get them to a decent length, but it never lasts long.

Once one nail breaks (and they break easily since they are so thin) then I feel like I need to "fix" the other nails. And I don't fix them with nail trimmers. I am way too good at biting them and feel like I can fix them myself! But once one nail is shorter than the rest, it drives me crazy. I need all of my nails the SAME LENGTH.

I feel like it may be too hard to stop a habit I have done for so long. Of course the internet offers lots of suggestions. You can paint your nails with bitter tasting polish, wear gloves, replace the habit with something else... But what am I supposed to replace it with!?

So my thought is to go to a nail place and see if they are healthy enough to get acrylics over top. If I spend money on those, there is no way I will rip them off just to bite them. I can keep doing acrylics until they are long enough to hopefully just keep nice myself.

Does anyone local have a place they recommend me going?

Are you a nail biter?

Any tips to stop!?

Weekend Wrap Up!

 

This was a wonderful weekend because while Saturday was super busy, Sunday was soooooo chill. I mean, there were a few unexpected surprises, but at least they were unexpected, so I wasn't anticipating the annoyance of them. Well, read on to hear more!

I was smack dab in the middle of a dream when my alarm went off. I was tired and did not want to wake up. You can do this, I told myself.Yes, sometimes I need a pep talk to get out of bed!

It was a chilly morning, but I did a deck of cards workout in my carport and ran two speedy miles that didn't feel speedy. Don't you love when that happens? Chrissy greeted me with warm hugs after my chilly workout.

Every morning at school begins with stair duty and then an instrument lesson. I take whatever instrument I'm teaching that day to duty to serenade the kids as they come down the steps. It gives me extra practice and it brightens everyone's day!

We spent the day singing autumn songs, Halloween songs, creating sound stories, and playing a pumpkin games. Our superintendent popped in during one of my classes but luckily all was going well so it was no big deal. Whew!

After school I had two appointments. One was to get my eyebrows and lips waxed. I didn't get home until nearly six o'clock!

When I get home, I always shower and put on pjs. On Friday, I posted what I wore to work each day this week. Next Friday, I want to do a what I wore AFTER work each day. Here is a preview:

That's not cheese, it's mayo. And yes, that's TWO turkey burgers! I was hungry.

We ate, watched Colbert, and then I went to bed.

I woke up to two kitties being cuddly babies. Perfect for a cool, rainy, fall morning.

I had so much on the Megenda (that's what Paul calls my agenda), so right after making coffee and loading my phone with podcasts, I set to work cleaning the house. I took a little break to go to Aldi, but came right home and finished cleaning. It feels good to have a clean house! Our house is never "cluttery" or "messy", but the cats make it dirty.

Do you think we have enough frozen veggies!?

Then I took Ellie and Clementine to see Jack and the Beanstalk at Gamut Theater in Harrisburg. It was put on by the Popcorn Hat Players, who do shows specifically for children. It was a great set up- the kids could sit on the floor and the adults could sit on chairs. The girls loved the show!

We parked at Amtrak, which is where my dad works. He was smack dab in the middle of a 16 hour overtime shift, so seeing the girls brightened his day! The girls loved seeing Grandpa! They climbed right up on his lap. They love him so much.

Later that afternoon, Paul and I hit up the gym. Then we rushed home to get ready for game night. Our friends Molly and Jon came over and we had so much fun! We barely got through even one game because we just jibber jabbered the whole time! Of course the next morning I realized I didn't get ANY pictures of the four of us, just some pictures before our friends arrived.

 Enough food for four people!?

Chrissy's ready to play!

Today was the first day in WEEKS that I had absolutely ZERO plans. It was the greatest feeling ever. I got up around 7:30, drank some coffee, and caught up on The View and blogging.

Look at his little tongue sticking out!

Around 11, I finally decided to start my day, so I parked at Trindle Road to do a run on the AT. My plan was to do 8 miles but I wasn't sure what direction I was going to go.

I'm very scared to run on the trail alone. I'm scared a creepy guy will be walking toward me with a gun and he will rape and murder me. Sorry, I know that got very dark all of a sudden, but that is HONESTLY what I fear on the trail. However, I don't want to live my life in fear, so I am trying to get out there and do what I love...

... but of course I'm safe about it. I never post where I'm going on Facebook before the fact, I always tell Paul exactly where I'm at, when I begin my run, and which direction I'm going. I also text him when I turn around to run back to my car and when I arrive at my car. I carry pepper spray. I feel like that's the safest/most prepared I can be.

When I parked at the AT, I saw a couple heading South, so I thought I would go that way. But there is a gun range not far from the trail and the bullets were LOUD and there was just no break in them. It freaked me out, so I decided to run North instead. 'MERICA.

This is a very run-able section of the trail. It was a little muddy from the rain, but that's it. I passed a guy with his dog, a male runner, another guy with a dog, a girl runner with her dog (this was when I was about a mile from my car) and then and older guy smoking a cigarette with a backpack who was a little sketchy, but I could literally see my car when I saw him, so I figured I was safe.

When I got back to my car, I stretched and decided to go South for a bit, despite the sound of bullets. I didn't see anyone on this section. I didn't go far, so I turned back at the point where I knew I would make it an even 8 miles.

Here are some pictures!

 Random old cemetery in the field.

 This part sketches me out. This is where I'm scared I'll see a creepy person.

My absolute FAVORITE part!

When I got home from my run is when the unexpected shit happened.

Unexpected shitty thing #1: Our shower wouldn't work, so I had to drive to Planet Fitness to shower and shave after my run. I mean, it SUCKED, but I do recognize that I am fortunate that I had the option to shower at the gym.

Unexpected shitty thing #2: I had to make a potato casserole for a breakfast we are having at work on Monday, but I noticed I had accidentally purchased cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of potato soup, which the recipe called for. Ugh!!!! Unexpected trip to Weis... Although I do recognize I am fortunate that Weis is only a 5 minute drive.

Unexpected shitty thing #3: The whole cream of potato soup/shower saga made me realize that tomorrow morning was going to SUCK. I would somehow have to workout, shower at the gym, and THEN go home to make the potatoes so they would be hot for the breakfast. The potatoes take an hour, which meant I would have to wake up at 4:15 so I would have time to go to the gym to workout, shower, drive home, make the potatoes, then drive to work so they would be nice and hot for breakfast. FREAKING A!!!!

The rest of the night was spent making a yummy dinner and food for Paul and I for the week.

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!
When was the last time you had a day with ZERO plans?
Are there certain places you are scared to run alone?

Trick Or Treat Night

This past Thursday was Trick or Treat night in our neighborhood. I know, it's super early. Most other townships are doing it sometime next week. Pennsylvania is a weird place where Trick or Treat isn't always on Halloween. In fact, it's usually before Halloween and not every township does it on the same night!

Of course I had my candy  ready to go several weeks ahead of time. Always trying to be accommodating, I made sure to have junk, "healthy" snacks, and non food items.

 Stickers, tattoos, fruit snacks

 Fruit snacks and junk

Pretzels and fruit snacks

I was a little late for Trick or Treat this year because I had to get my haircut from hell fixed. Luckily, Karen down at Jenny's salon was so nice and I left there feeling like a million bucks! Paul got Trick or Treat started without me. He said he had fun while I wasn't there because he could be all folksy and chummy with everyone without me rolling my eyes!

We always sit outside in our lawn chairs while passing out candy. We play creepy music via Paul's blue tooth speaker and let the kitties watch from the storm door. Jelly wanted OUT! We got a lot of compliments on the cats that night!

Our neighbors were handing out full size candy bars! He works for Hershey, so I think he gets a discount. Paul snagged me one and I ate most of this bad boy before I ate my dinner.

Everyone that visited was the "normal" Trick or Treat age. I would say the oldest we had was maybe some 15 year olds? But everyone had on a costume. The older the kids, the more likely there were to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you". Most of the kids did not, unless their parents told them to. I understand, it's a lot! But at least the older kids followed protocol.

There was only one ungrateful girl. We told kids to "pick one" and a girl that looked about 10 years old yelled as she walked, "One STINKIN' piece!" and her parents laughed! I'm sure it was an awkward laugh but that totally could have been a teachable moment! They could have told her to go put that "one stinkin' piece" back, and that she would only continue Trick or Treating if she said "thank you" to the remaining houses she visited. Seriously. She wasn't cute, funny, or charming. She was a BRAT!

At around 7:30, things died down, so we came inside and took turns answering the door for the remaining 30 minutes. We only had about two more groups. One was a pair of boys, probably in 4th grade. They rang the doorbell close to 8pm. "You're out past your bedtime!" I told them, trying to be funny and chummy. "No we're not," one boy grumbled. Oops, I guess he didn't get my joke!

It's a good thing we insisted on one piece, because of all the goodies we had, this is what was left! I'm keeping the Starburst for myself but taking the stickers to school.

It was another successful Trick or Treat night on Cumberland Road!

Do you participate in Trick or Treat?
What do you hand out?
Parents: How would you have responded to the brat if it was your child!?