Christmas Questionnaire

I thought it would be fun to link up for a little Christmas Questionnaire this year.

1. When do you decorate?

We put our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving this year, but waited to do the outdoor decorations until the weekend after. My husband has to work Black Friday and the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so it's hard to do all decorations that weekend. Here's our tree:

2 Elf or no elf?

No elf; I don't have kids and I teach high school, so I really have no use for one.

3. Christmas cookies or no baking for you?

I think we're baking cookies next weekend--likely just some sugar cookies that we decorate with icing and sprinkles. What I REALLY love is when other people bake Christmas cookies and I eat them.

4. Favorite holiday tradition?

Ever since we've been married, my husband and I (and now our dog) pack up in the car Christmas Eve night with some coffee or hot cocoa and drive around listening to Christmas tunes while looking at the neighborhood lights all around our city.

5. Favorite Christmas movie?

Hard question, but I think it's gotta be:

6. Snow or no snow?

I don't mind a little snow on Christmas Day, but otherwise, no snow!

7. Favorite Christmas song?

("Christmas Eve Sarajevo" by TSO)

8. Favorite gifts to give and get?

On my list this year was a right hand ring from my husband, a Tory Burch purse, and gift cards for clothes.

I am horrible at buying for other people! And my husband reads here, so I don't want to spoil his gifts :)

December Currently

Wow! How is it already December? I think Thanksgiving helped November fly right by. Hopefully these next three weeks do the same :)

Linking up for this month's Currently.

Listening...Last month, I was listening to Songza too! But this time, it's the Christmas tunes I'm crankin'.

Loving...We put up all our outside and inside lights over the weekend. It looks so purty :)

Thinking...My husband is hard to buy for. Or should I say surprise. He ordered a few things himself that I am giving him as presents lol, but I also want to surprise him with at least one gift he isn't expecting.

Wanting....We have pretty much planned out our vacation for next summer, minus actually booking our lodging. We're headed up to Mackinac Island and the Traverse City area of MI, and I could not be more excited. I want it to be here nooooooow.

Needing...Our Christmas cards came in, and I have a bunch I need to address.

Giving....If you know me, you know animals are near and dear to my heart, so we always drop off a bunch of supplies around the holidays to the animal shelter where we got our dog. I hope I can make their stay at the shelter a little more comfy until they find their forever home.

October Currently

October is one of my favorite months of the year! The temps drop, fall clothes come out, pumpkin everything is in store, and lots and lots of spooky movies are on TV.

This month's Currently.

Listening....I looooove Criminal Minds (and the new show, Stalker! So good). If you love creepy movies/TV/books, you should check them both out.

Loving...I love that I can wear my new fall boots, sweaters, and scarves finally.

Thinking...Homecoming week is always completely exhausting and the kids are crazy. We are over halfway through! Just gotta keep it together for two more school days.

Wanting...I used to try and get a massage every 4 months. I haven't had one in a year and a half. It is such a stress reliever for me.

Needing...My parents are visiting this weekend, and the house is kind of a mess :/ Cleaning has been neglected in lieu of grading, lesson planning, and doing yard work.

Trick....OK, not a scary trick. A life hack kind of trick that probably everyone else figured out before me ha. Do you have a thousand different cords for all your devices, plugged in right next to each other? I could never keep them straight. So we got a $20 label maker from Target and made labels for each of our cords (Mrs. L cell phone, husband cell phone, Mrs. L Kindle, etc) and wrapped them around the cord. Now we never have to try three different cords to find the right one! And I have been able to use my label maker in all sorts of ways in my classroom, too!

A Peek at my Week {Sept 8-12}

I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin today for a Peek at my Week.

Why do the weekends have to go so much quicker than two days during the work week?

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend weather-wise. It got cool enough I could wear my new boots and a scarf! My parents were in town to help out for our garage sale, and it was also my mom's birthday.

Today my husband and I went for a hike after they left, and it was gorgeous.

 

We are so lucky to have many awesome hiking trails right in our own town.

Then we took the pup for a walk with her new leash that matches her harness. She is one stylish dog.



But, it's time to think about the work week again. I have been really struggling to come up with content-based posts to write on here. I think part of it is I haven't been feeling the greatest with my horrible allergies as of late. I also am so busy and just trying to keep my head above water with planning, grading, and trying to get all my pre-test data recorded that I have no energy to sit down and blog at night about what's going on in my room. I will try to be better about writing content posts. Anything in particular you want to read about?

So this week my juniors are going to wrap up the Turn of the Century unit in American Lit. We read some Twain last week and this week we're reading some epitaphs from Spoon River Anthology, as well as the poem 'Richard Cory." We're going to work more on our annotating skills.

In College English, we are peer editing our first big essay, then during revision in the lab, they will get a chance to conference with me before turning in their essays. This means I have a bunch of essays coming in on Thurs that will need grading next weekend.

In non-school plans, the weather finally feels like fall, so we are cooking some crockpot meals and trying to get out hiking as much as possible. Pretty sure an apple orchard trip is in our future next weekend.

Hope you all have a great week!

A Peek At My Week {First Week Back}

Linking up with A Peek at my Week for my first week back to school.

Alas, the kiddos come back tomorrow, and another school year begins. I think I am all ready to go, at least for the first few days.

I spent part of my Saturday night making these little signs for my window ledge. This is about as crafty as I get.

 

Since students can still switch classes through Wednesday, no one really jumps into content until after that. So the first couple days I spend going over procedures/the syllabus, and I have students fill in a chart as I go over rules/procedures so they can use it to study for my rules quiz. We also came up with a department plagiarism policy this year, since it has become a large issue, so I am introducing that, having students sign, and then doing a mini unit on plagiarism with some games I found.

The second half of the week, I will get into more specific content with my different classes. This semester I teach English III (American Lit), Senior Lit, and College English 101. I have taught all classes before, but we did totally revamp our ENG III curriculum, so it's pretty much like teaching a new class.

English III starts out with defining the American Dream and discussing students' definitions of what it is. In Senior Lit, we are jumping right into our first novel, Nineteen Minutes. LOVE this one and the students end up loving it, too. I re-read it every year and have read the whole book at least 8 times, but I love it more each time I read it. In College English, they are writing literacy stories and blogging this week.

So we're back to 5:30 AM wake-up calls,, 50 minute commutes, grading, planning, and not having a lot of free time for the next 9 months. Not sure if I'm ready, but ready or not, it starts tomorrow.

August currently

Well, it's that time of year. Back to school time. And like every year, I absolutely dread it.

Linking up with Farley for this month's currently.

 

Most of my answers are self-explanatory. We got our backyard landscaping completed this week-yay!

This weekend, we are painting our concrete patio, so that looks to be a lot of work and hopefully it turns out! Other than that, I just need to start getting stuff ready for school to start in less than 2 weeks. Trying to enjoy every last drop of summer while I can.

July Currently

Linking up with Farley.

 

Listening....It'll be the last hot day this week! Tomorrow the high is only 70. Wahoo!

Loving...The Husband and I have been redoing all our front landscaping ourselves. Take a peek at a couple before/afters.

We still have the whole area in front of our house to do this week.



Thinking....We leave for TN in six days, so I need to make a packing list and get moving.

Wanting...My dog is at my parents' house because we had a ton of work done at the house yesterday. I can't wait to see her sweet little face today!

Needing...To clean. I always need to clean.

4th plans....Working on the front landscaping and then having a low-key night at home, since my pup is scared of fireworks!

Have a great holiday weekend and a happy July!

June Currently

Well this is the first year I've still been in school in June. Stupid snow days. But only FOUR MORE DAYS.

1. I love Pandora and this is my new favorite station. Perfect summer music.

2. Like I said, I wish I was already on summer break, but four more days ain't too shabby.

3. Yesterday we went to a wine and beer fest all day. FUN. But hot. Even though I parked myself under a shade tree, I obviously still got some UV rays because my upper arms are super burned today :( Yikes.

4. I have a ton of cute maxi dresses that I can wear to work or on weekends, but now I'm on the hunt for some shorter, more casual sundresses I can just throw on to beat the heat in 100 degree weather that still make me look put together.

5. We had grand plans to deep clean the house today. But then the dog needed a walk, we HAD to go out for brunch, I wanted to run to Target....yeah. House still hasn't been cleaned.

6. Last one is pretty self-explanatory and I wrote a more detailed summer bucket list last week. VERY excited for it to almost be summer.

Top 10 Things I Want To Do This Summer

Memorial Day weekend is always the unofficial start of summer. Unfortunately my summer break doesn't start for another 10 days this year because of all our snow days. Usually, I'm also off work by the time Memorial Day rolls around.

But nevertheless, it has been an absolutely gorgeous weekend here with lovely weather and we are visiting family this weekend. It has been a good time. And no work tomorrow!

So I am linking up with Mrs. Jump's class for her linky about the top ten things I want to do this summer.

 

1. Trip to Tennessee:  We are headed to the Smoky Mtns. in July, and I cannot wait! We're staying in a nice cabin in the mountains and have plenty of exploring already planned.

2. Projects around the house: We have some small (and bigger) projects in store, like landscaping, paining our fence, redecorating and possibly looking at new living room furniture.

3. Save money: Unfortunately summer is the time we seem to spend the most because I'm not working and have all the time in the world to shop, go out to eat, and do other activities that cost a lot of money. So we hope to put a lot in the bank this time instead.

4. See friends more: We want to make a conscious effort to hang out with our friends as much as we can and really enjoy time together.

5. Outdoor concerts: Our city has outside concerts by the river every weekend during the summer, and it's a favorite activity of ours. We hope to make it to many concerts this year.

6. Be more active: My husband and I are trying to do brisk walks around our neighborhood at least 4-5 times a week to get in a little better shape.

7. Read more: Summer is the season of reading for pleasure on my patio. I've already downloaded a few books on my Kindle I have yet to read.

7. Upload more to my TpT store: I've sold a lot of one of my products but only have about 6 products total. I really want to build it up this summer when I have more time.

8. Attend some professional development: There is already a workshop I plan to attend at the end of June, and I hope to get more knowledge on 1:1 programs, since we are going 1:1 next year.

9. Plan for next year: I always end up waiting until August (or late July) to think about next year's classes. I hope to work on them more throughout the summer instead of procrastinating it.

10. More quality time with my husband: I really should put this at #1. So often, at night or on weekends, we both sit in the same room not even talking: I'm reading, he's on the computer, etc. I want to make it a point to really BE together when we are together and do more fun things outside the house together, like going for hikes, trying new restaurants, etc.

May Currently

Wow, can't believe it is already May. Sure doesn't feel like it, what with our 45º weather and rain.

Linking up with Farley.

 

Listening....My husband is wonderful and ran to get me Starbucks this morning before work. It's so quiet in the house right now, except for the birds right outside my window.

Loving...Oh my gosh, such a long week! Even though my weekend is filled with grading, I'm glad it's the weekend.

Thinking....I have 40 essays to grade by next Thursday...because next Thurs, 40 more come in that have to be graded by that Monday. So yeah....my next 10 days will really suck.

Wanting...We got a glimpse of spring a couple weeks ago, but now it's crappy and cold again.

Needing....We're having a big garage sale May 17, and I have done exactly zero to prepare for it.

Surprise....I love Mrs. Orman's blog for secondary English ideas. She has a lot of neat lesson plans and good ideas. Check her out!

Currently April

Linking up with Farley for this month's Currently.

A few days later on this Currently....it's been a long, rough week. My father-in-law passed away last Wed.

So I was off work all last week ( and we had Spring Break the week before that), so I've been off for TWO weeks. And I have approximately 58239 papers to grade and things to plan and do and make-up, etc., as you can see from my Currently above. Very stressed out.

And as you can tell from my first answer, I am doing none of that right now :)

Here's hoping the rest of this month improves. We can only go up from here, right?

A Peek at My Week {March 22-29}

I decided to link up with Mrs. Laffin's Peek at my Week this week because...HOLLA! I'm on Spring Break!

Well, first of all, today is my birthday! I am getting dangerously close to the big 3-0.

So today my husband took me out to lunch at the winery, which was delicious. And we went shopping so I bought an outfit for tonight and my first pair of TOMS shoes (they are so comfy! Why didn't I buy them earlier?) And I am also going to order this pair online because Jonathan Adler designed them and they are adorable.

 

Tonight we are going to my favorite seafood restaurant with friends-yum!

Later this week, we are headed back home to spend time with family and also celebrate my birthday with them. Rox is excited to spend a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Then Wed-Fri we are headed to Chicago. It'll be nice to get away. We're staying at the Palomar and have a city view room. We got tickets for the Second City comedy show and plan to hit up Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Modern Art. Hopefully the weather isn't too horrible while we're there.

I love that city so much!

So it looks to be a pretty fun week. I did not bring home any grading or planning--I plan to just relax and spend some time with family.

What do you all have going on this week?

MARCH CURRENTLY

I was so excited when I woke up and saw the March currently up on Farley's blog. Excited for a couple reasons:
1) This is the very first month I did Currently last year, so I've been doing this for a whole year now!
2) Maybe March means spring weather? Of course we're under a winter weather advisory and are getting 6-8" of snow tomorrow, so maybe not. But what's that saying? If March comes in like a lion.........

 
Listening....I just woke up so it's super quiet in the house. We have had so many humongo icicles on our house lately!

Loving....I opened my TpT store a couple weeks ago. I already have two sales! Plus a ton of free downloads. Woohoo! I need to work on getting more products in it. I have a TON of stuff I could put on there, but it's all saved on my work computer and I always forget to save it to a jump drive and bring it home.

Thinking....Like I explained, SNOW tomorrow. NO. 

Wanting....I usually try and get a massage 4 times a year. They are pricey or I would be getting those babies monthly. Well I haven't had one since last APRIL! Sad panda :( I need to find the time and money to do it.

Needing.....Got lots of essays to grade this weekend. At least I'll be snowed in?

???????? Sort of random. Let's see if you can guess.

Currently February

Holy cow, another month has come and gone. All told, we had 12 days of school in January. Six snow days to make up....so far.

Linking up with Farley!

1. Listening to...Parenthood. I have watched the whole series and am totally caught up, but I loved the first few seasons so much, that I started re-watching them on Netflix during my snow days. So I'm in the middle of season 2 (again) and loving it.

2. Loving....that we booked our vacation to the Smoky Mountains! I posted about it last week in more detail. I love having something fun to look forward to.

3. Thinking....I brought home a stack of College English essays, and since I'll be snowed in tomorrow, I have lots of grading to do.

4. Wanting...no more snow! PLEASE! Four inches today and another 6-8 overnight. Plus another big system coming in next Tuesday. I would like to get out of school before the middle of June, please.

5. Needing....You might think a preference for warm weather is a want. No, sir. Not this winter. It is a NEED for me. I have lived in IL my entire life and am no stranger to cold and snow, but this winter has been brutal, and it's only Feb 1! This weather is gettin' me down.

6. The two truths are....1 and 3. Growing up, I was really into dance and we performed in a few competitions around the country. My favorite stop was in Vegas! We actually placed third once.
In college, I went to Warped Tour twice with my husband (then-boyfriend) to see our favorite band, Motion City Soundtrack. Definitely got kicked in the head in the mosh pit, and it was a "I can now say I did it" type thing, but I have never returned to a mosh pit and never looked back. Yuck.

The fib...I have not backpacked through Europe. Sadly, I have never even been there :(

Who else is getting snowed in this weekend?

A Day in my Life

I am linking up with Where the Wild Things Learn for a Day in my Life linky.

 

Mine is not as exciting or varied as an elementary teacher. As you can see, I teach the same thing a couple times a day.

We have to be there by 8; I usually stroll in around 7:30. I am most productive in the morning, and I love having first hour prep, so I can work from 7:30 to 9:10 with no interruptions (usually) or kids. It is marvelous.

Our periods are 50 min. long, which never seem long enough (I would love to teach block). I have the first lunch, which seems early, but I am starving by the time 11 rolls around. That's what happens when you eat breakfast at 6 AM!

After school, we have to hang around until 3:30. I sometimes stay longer. I use this time to make sure things are in order for the next day/tidy up and grade papers.

It's all in a day's work :)

 

A peek at my week {Jan 12-17}

I'm linking up with Mrs. Laffin for a Peek at my Week.

Well I survived the first days back to work. I was so tired last night, I fell asleep on the couch around 10. On break I was staying up until 1 on the regular. 5:30 AM sure comes fast :/

I want to get back into some content-based posts once the semester gets more in full swing, but until then, just a quick peek at what's going on in my personal and school life this week.

Tomorrow we are meeting some friends for lunch at the winery. They have the BEST food and wine. And isn't it pretty? (Admittedly, it does not look this way in January. Womp womp).

But they have the absolute BEST homemade chili in a bread bowl and a raging fire to sit next to while drinking some vino and chatting. I am very excited. I'm also picking up a pair of boots I ordered two weeks ago because they weren't in my size. I hope they fit so I can wear them to school on Monday.

School-wise, we are kicking off our banned book project in English III. They are choosing a book to read this quarter that has been banned or challenged in the past. Then fourth quarter, we are reading Fahrenheit 451 and discussing government censorship, censorship in schools, and all that fun stuff. 

To cap it off, they'll have to write an argumentative essay arguing for or against banning the book they read third quarter. They just chose books yesterday and blogged about why they chose them.

Which leads me to something else--I am trying out a Weebly blog for all my classes this semester. Some classes have weekly blogs to post; others may be a little less frequent. But I am posting prompts related to what we're doing in class and having them respond to the prompt and to each other to get some online and out-of-class convos going on between students. So far, so good, but it's only been two days, so we'll see!

In College English, we're seeing if we can define what "good" writing is and covering some of the important basics quickly. I made up a game in Power Point called "Plagiarism or Not?" so we'll play that and then get started learning about how to write summaries of critical articles! Fun stuff!

Well, we are off to see Her tonight--that movie with Joaquin Phoenix where he basically falls in love with a Siri-like person. It looks kind of weird, but I love weird/off-beat/Indie movies, so I'm excited! Have a great rest of your weekend :)

January Currently

Happy 2014, everyone! We rang in the new year on the couch with some board games, cuddled up with our dog. Just the kind of low-key night I love.

I'm linking up with Farley for the January currently!

Listening...my dog is a great guard dog, but barks at everything! She has been my alarm clock over break.

Loving....I got a new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas from my in-laws! I did have a Nook Tablet for awhile. I didn't like how it felt like I was staring at a computer screen, and the glare was so bad, that I could not read it on the beach on vacation last summer. So the Paperwhite it is, and I am loving how lightweight it is! I also got a blanket from Barnes & Noble that has book quotes on it and it is super soft.

Thinking....2013 was not a great year, and I am hoping 2014 brings us much more happiness and good times.

Wanting....They are forecasting 3-5" of snow for today. Frankly, I am over snow and winter weather once it's past Christmas. I am now ready for spring. K thanks.

Needing....Today the decorations start coming down. It is always a kind of sad day, but I am also looking forward to getting my house back and nice and clean.

Tradition....The last two years it's just been my husband and me for Christmas Eve/Day. On Christmas Eve night, we pack in the car (with the dog), bring coffee, listen to Christmas tunes and drive around the neighborhoods looking at all the Christmas lights. It is a favorite memory of mine.

Currently December

December is my second favorite month of the year, after October. The first semester is winding down, and everything is so magical and exciting leading up to the holidays.

So I am linking up with Farley for Currently December.

Listening: I am not personally a football fan. OK I hate it. But I decided to do some Interwebbing and read a book while my husband listens to the game. At least in an hour, I get to go see Catching Fire!

Loving: Today is sunny and 50º which is not normal Midwest December weather. It was so nice that we took Roxie for a long walk on the bike trail.

Thinking: I have a busy week coming up. Lots going on in my classes, a couple meetings, an SIP day and then a conference on Thursday about motivating students. I am excited to see what I come back with.

Wanting: I was saddened to realize last week that I lost my favorite sunglasses that I bought from the Coach Outlet store 5 years ago. And of course this was after Christmas lists had been distributed and purchased. I think I will get a cheaper stand-in pair for now.

Needing: I have to re-read (for the 4th time) the first four chapters of Gentlemen today, as well as chapters 4 and 5 of Gatsby for classes tomorrow.

Favorite tradition: I had many traditions with family growing up that I loved, even though I no longer do them now that I have my own little family. So I decided to list one of the traditions I have carried on into my adult life: On Christmas Eve evening, my husband I exchange one gift (and this year, Rox will get to open one up early too). It will probably go like this: "Hey, husband, I'd like to open up that new paisley scarf I know you got for me so I can wear it tomorrow. K Thanx."

Tried It Tuesday {Gatsby Party}

Holla for Thanksgiving break! So excited I have the rest of this week off, even if I do have some research papers to grade.

I have not done a Tried It Tuesday for awhile, so I decided to link up today.

As I've mentioned before, I am reading Gatsby with my juniors. We just finished chapter 3, which is the big party scene. Browsing TpT, I came across this awesome freebie to reenact that party scene AND work on textual evidence. Thanks to Hannah at Teach and Create for this great idea!

Each student receives a card with either a character name and quote or a description and quote. For instance, it may say "You are Jordan Baker" and give a quote that she said in that chapter. Or it might say "You know a fact about Gatsby" and state a fact from that chapter. Each student gets what I call a BINGO card with 12 squares that they need to fill in by mingling with guests at this party. So one box might say "Find Owl Eyes and ask him about Gatsby's library" and then you have to find the person who has the Owl Eyes card and record what they tell you.

It being the last day before break and all, I decided to turn it into a full-blown party. I gave a couple extra credit points if students brought refreshments. I went in with another teacher and bought a bunch of 1920s accessories that we wore, like fedoras, mustaches, bow ties, feather boas, etc. I stuck a picture of Leo on my door as Jay Gatsby and had him say, "Come on in, old sport," which my girls loved. I played the early jazz station on Pandora and we had ourselves a party!

I did take pics, but don't want to post their faces online. But they were having a great time! AND they actually all did the activity too and turned in their fully completed sheets by the end of class.

A couple of my classes were messier than others. I did have a lot of cleaning up to do, but that is expected when you throw a party with 30 teenagers. Overall, they handled it very well, and I would definitely do it again.

A Peek at my Week {Nov. 18-22}

I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin for a Peek at my Week.

I am typing this from the basement because there is a tornado on the ground in a nearby city. Scary stuff! Is this spring or late fall?

One more full week before a break for Thanksgiving. I cannot WAIT! And the kids can't either. So here's what's coming up this week.

1. My juniors are turning in their final research essays tomorrow (these are the ones that were on topics related to the 1920s). So this means I will spend my entire week grading....and grading....and grading. I want to get them all done and returned (all 70 of them) before we leave for Thanksgiving.

2. That means we are on to my favorite unit in English III-GATSBY! 

 

We will start with an introductory Power Point tomorrow and then jump right in to reading and discussing. I'll be sharing some of the cool things we're doing with Gatsby as we go.

3. My seniors are also finishing up their final presentations for The Lovely Bones. They are working in groups on Prezis, researching related topics to the novel (like crime scene investigation, cultural views of the afterlife, etc) and applying them to the book. They will present these Thursday and Friday.

So what's on tap for your week?