50,168 Words Later....

and I'm a winner in this year's NaNoWriMo. Nothing like having the incentive of failing the class if I don't finish the novel! It's finished but it isn't exactly the greatest writing ever. I intended the story to be one thing, then the characters took over and it wound up being something else entirely. In the middle of writing it, I got the idea for another book. So I don't know if I'll write that one over Christmas break or if I'll write down some notes then stick them in a drawer until next year's NaNoWriMo.

It's alive! Now I'm going to bed.

On Writing, and Teaching, and Life

Howdy, folks. We're in the middle of the crazies down here. Today, I had a bad migraine that kept me up all night, so I called in sick to school. I took some more medicine around 7:30 this morning and woke up at 2:30. At 3, I started working on the novel I am supposed to be writing for school. Up to this point, I had been waaaay behind. Today, I wrote 11,505 words (no joke) on my novel. This means I now have written 30,030 words of my 50,000 word novel. I expect to finish over the long holiday weekend. Realistically, if I can write on two days like I did today, I'll be done and never have to look at it again. Yay, me!

In other news, I'm now down close to 70 pounds from what I was in January. The secret to my success is stress and chronic illness. Add in bursitis and mystery arthritis and you have yourself the key to weight loss. However, I do not recommend this as a weight loss plan for the masses. It takes dedication and desperation.

I continue to pray for the school year to hurry up and be over. Because the Thanksgiving break is only five days, alas, I do not think we'll be able to travel this month to do any visiting. See also first paragraph Re: grad school course requiring an insane amount of writing this month. I will, however, have two weeks off at Christmas that I am hoping I will have the time and funds in which to travel and see my beloved ones.

You would not recognize Jamie, either, as he is now more of a bean pole than ever, except with broader shoulders, a prominent Adam's apple, a deeper voice (he sings in the Bass section at church now!!!!) I will eventually post pictures when I come up for air.

We are both singing in the choir at Church, and are in rehearsals for the Christmas concert in a few weeks. Jamie tried out for a solo and is sad he didn't get it. I'm working on a solo part in "You Oughta Know" for the concert, but we haven't been told yet who's actually singing it in the concert (it's between me another another very nice lady with an amazing voice).

I love you all.

Bombs Away!

This is a picture of Jamie I stole from Jamie's youth group leader's facebook page. Jamie is jumping off a ledge one story in the air and getting ready to land on a huge inflatable "blob". This "blob" will launch the person on the end of it into the air and out into a lake once Jamie lands on it.  Jamie will then make his way onto the end of the "blob" where he will be launched by the next person in line.

This picture actually mirrors a lot of what I'm feeling/experiencing as I get ready for my first year in my new teaching career.  My schooling has been that long climb up the structure to get to the top of the platform, where I searched diligently for a teaching internship. I finally got one, so now it's my turn to take that jump to the new career. Let me tell you, it's a long fall from up here! But once I take the plunge on my first day, I know my training, the support staff at the school where I'll be teaching and all my many educator family members and friends will be ready to catch me. And by taking my jump, I'll be launching someone else's career to come work in my old profession as a secretary.

Yeah, I know this post was pretty hokey. Originally, I was just going to post this pic of Jamie at camp. But the more I looked at it, the more I drew parallels to my career change.

Incidentally, with Jamie away at camp, the house has been waaaaaay too quiet. I'm so glad I get to go pick him up tomorrow. I miss the little (well, relatively speaking) booger so much!

I Better Get Used to Being Called "Ms. H___________"...

…because I got the teaching internship I’ve been wanting. This means I will begin teaching in August and will be the teacher of record for the entire year. This means I will get paid a teacher’s salary, rather than doing a free student teaching assignment. This means, in short, I can continue to feed the ravenous monster that is my son!

:-D

Children's Book Reviews on Jenn the Bibliophile

I just wanted to let you know that I've started posting reviews on Jenn the Bibliophile. I've reviewed the classic "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter and Mo Willem's "Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed".  If you have little ones who enjoy being read to, I highly recommend them both - especially NMRGD. It will leave parents and kids alike "in stitches"!

Classes are in full swing, so you can expect approximately three book reviews each two-week period.  Another review will go up on the blog tonight.  As time progresses, the books will be geared toward progressively older readers. I hope you will enjoy these reviews. This blog has been added to my blog roll in the right-hand sidebar so that you can see when new posts go up. Please feel free to leave comments!

Jenn the Bibliophile

One of my classes this semester is actually a Library Science class on Children's and Young Adult Literature.  As part of this class, I have to read Children's/YA books and write reviews.  Then I have to post reviews to a blog. (Heavenly assignments for me!)  To that end, I have created Jenn the Bibliophile.  I'll be reviewing several different age level books - picture books, easy readers, Caldecott and Newberry winners, chapter books.  Feel free to come by and leave comments.  Part of the assignment is that I have to get feedback from the general public.  Please stop by!  I'll add this blog to my blogroll on the right sidebar so you know when there's something new to read.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Bragging on My Kid

I'd like to take a moment here to brag on my kiddo.  I know I do this fairly often, but hey, I'm a momblogger, it's kind of what I do.

Last Friday, my boy got three - count 'em, THREE - awards for the first nine weeks of school.  The first was for making the A/B honor roll (six A's and two B's.  Not too shabby!).  The second and third awards blew me away, because I had no stinkin' idea just how well my kid was doing in some of his classes!

The second award was for having the highest average in his history class - OUT OF AT LEAST 120 STUDENTS! (Six class periods with approximately 20 kids in each class period = roughly 120 students.)  Out of all the classes and all the students, Jamie had the highest average grade.  Rock on, Jamie!

The third award should not have been a surprise to me, considering Jamie's gene pool (and heck, even his family name).  He got the Outstanding Technology Award for his computer graphics class.  Apparently, Jamie figured out how to do an effect on the computer in a certain graphics/animation program that even the teacher didn't know could be done.  I feel like Spike in the old Tom and Jerry cartoons talking about his pup - "That's my boy!" (in Spike's raspy voice, of course).

To celebrate, Jamie, his friends W and B, and I went and saw Megamind in 3D.  I hadn't taken him and his friends out to the movies in a while, and I really wanted Jamie to get a big reward for all his hard work this nine weeks.  We had a lot of fun, and the movie was great.  If you haven't seen it yet, you should go.  Now.  See. It.

TExES Exam Scores

For those of you who don't do facebook, I thought I would let you know that, despite a horrendous testing experience (nearly an hour delay, very loud construction noise right next door, unprofessional staff, etc.), I passed my content area certification exam.  I am a very happy, relieved woman!  Unfortunately, I can't relax and kick back, because I have a ton of homework to do, and this is midterms week, and Jamie has an orchestra concert tonight, I'm chaperoning a field trip (and getting observation hours credit for it) tomorrow, and Jamie has a robotics competition tomorrow night and all day Saturday.  No rest for the weary, I guess.  But still, one test successfully completed, one more test to go (I'll probably take it next fall).

Tales Out of School

For those of you wondering, I had a FANTASTIC time on Monday during my student observations.  In the morning, I sat with Jamie's reading teacher from last year.  I even got to help out with reading aloud when her voice got tired.  The school cannot afford to buy enough copies of books their reading to send a copy home with each student, so the books have to be shared and read during class time.  Sometimes, Mrs. B reads chapters aloud, then stops at key points to ask students to make predictions, observations or connections to what they have read.  Monday was a read-aloud day.  It was great to hear the kids' opinions and predictions!

When it was time for Mrs. B's planning/advising/break, I went to Jamie's current English teacher, Mrs. F.  Jamie had already had his class with Mrs. F by this time, so there was no conflict with my sitting with her class.  They were working on writing an essay on the themes in Langston Hughes' "Thank You, M'am".  Lunch period was also during the time when I was with her class, so I got to sit and eat lunch outside in the courtyard with Jamie and his friends Spencer, Brandt, Maxwell and J.W. (I think?). The kid whose name I am not quite sure of looks a scarily-similar to Jamie - nearly the same color eyes, hair is nearly the same color, freckles like mad, and only a teensy bit taller.  It was very strange to see the two of them sitting side-by-side.  But, it was good getting to eat lunch with all "my kids" - well, except for our friend William.  William purposely hid when he saw me in the cafeteria; he said he was afraid I'd do something to embarrass him.  Who, me?

After lunch, Mrs. F and I got a chance to chat during the last few minutes of class.  She told me that Jamie wasn't being challenged enough by her regular English class, and wanted me to get the counselors to move him to her Pre-AP English class.  Considering Jamie has a 100 average in the class, I agreed he must not be challenged enough, and went straight to see the counselor.  His schedule will be rearranged today, and he'll start Pre-AP English tomorrow.  He's excited, and so am I.  When I got back, Mrs. F and I swapped lists of "must-read" books.  We both like YA fantasy literature.  I've been invited to come back to her class any time I want.  I definitely will be back next time I do observations!

Lastly, I went back to Mrs. B's class to observe her Advanced 6th grade reading class.  I was not impressed at all with some of the students in this class!  They were in the midst of group projects, so they were rowdy.  On top of that, they were disrespectful to each other and the teacher.  Also, their responses to Mrs. B's questions on their group projects did not show nearly the critical thinking skills that were observed in the so-called regular classes.  But it was good to see how she kept the kids on task and from being too loud when working in their groups.

When the day was over, I was sad to realize I wouldn't be back again for several weeks for more observation.  I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from the teachers.  I cannot wait for next time!

More Grad School Miscellany

I've gotten approval from the district to do observations in the classroom.  As an added bonus, one of the teachers I'll be observing is Jamie's reading teacher from last year.  If all goes well, my first observation day will be Oct. 4.  Yesterday, I went and got some comfortable shoes that are dressy enough to wear to church, to do field observations in and for actual teaching, but comfortable enough that standing in them will not be a problem.  I'm also going to go this weekend to find some more professional-looking clothes to wear for observations and once student teaching comes around.  What I currently wear to work is polos embroidered with the company logo and jeans.  I don't think that is quite what the district would want teachers in training to wear!  I'm haunting the thrift stores and looking out for stuff on sale.  I don't want to spend a fortune!

Anyway, I just wanted to add this quick note so you all know I'm not dead and am, indeed, still alive and well.

More on Grad School

I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  I'm getting a feeling for when I need to start homework in order to have it turned in by the deadline.  I'm figuring out what the professors want from me.  I'm already thinking ahead to classroom observations, paper topics, etc.  And I'm finding a lot of humor.

All of my professors have a Ph.D.  Not a durn one of them can spell.  In some cases, the irony of their errors is hilarious.

From a grading rubric:
I will deduct 10 pts for spelling/grammer mistakes (Oy!)

From a "welcome to the class" announcement (different professor):
I trust that you will profit from the course. I suspect that much of what we do will not become truely useful until that day you face your own students.

From the classroom course calendar (different class):
Calendar is spelled "calender" in both the links to the calendar site and in the file name.

C'mon, people, really?!?!

Now, that being said, I will point out that these professors seem to be very nice people and we engage in lively debate in our online classroom.  I just enjoy poking fun at their errors.

Calling All Cooks! HELP!

Firstly, thanks to you all for the words of encouragement and support on my foray into grad school.  And those of you whom are educators, your advice is much sought and appreciated!  Now, I'm calling on all of you for help again - this time, in the kitchen.

Lest my boy turn into one giant microwaveable chicken nugget dinner full of fat and calories, I'm collecting slow cooker/crock pot recipes that are healthful, nutritious and packed with flavor, but are easy to throw together.  I used to buy a lot of those pre-packaged Crock Pot meals at the grocery, but they never have any in stock, and those meals usually have too much sodium, anyway.  So, I'm trying to make them from scratch.  I will usually wind up prepping the stuff while I'm home on my lunch break during the day.  I do, however, have plans in the near future to see about getting either one or two more slow cookers or the three-in-one slow cooker jobby I saw at that club that belongs to Sam the other day (depending on cost) and cooking up big batches of different dishes to freeze and or refrigerate for us to eat on during the week.  Last night, I made a scrumptious beef stew, and - I have to say - it was 500 times better than all those microwave meals I have in the freezer right now!

So, please, if you are a listed contributor on our recipe blog, please go there soon and leave me some slow cooker recipes!  If you aren't, please leave me a slow cooker recipe either in the comments on this blog or the recipe blog.  My sanity depends on it!

On Grad School

I've had a few "gulp-worthy" moments as I've looked at course materials for the three classes I'm taking this fall.  These include:

• Noticing that each professor has made up his/her own grading scale (each is different) and it will be a little more difficult to maintain that required "B" average than it was during my undergrad years.  One course says a 94% is the lowest "A" and an 87% the lowest "B", one says 93%/84% and the last  95%/86%.
• Noticing I have to complete 30 hours of classroom observations.  Trying to balance that with my work schedule may be tricky.  I'm hoping they don't assign me to do a few hours here and a few hours there.  I specifically stated that I need to do 4 or 5 full days of observation rather than a few hours every week.
• Noticing how much reading and writing I'm going to be doing, and trying to balance that with Jamie's need for my time and attention.  Basically, I'll be doing a lot of my school work after he goes to bed at 9 p.m. (on a good night) and on the weekends when he's off with friends or with his BB.

Luckily, there are also several things working in my favor on this.  Two of my textbooks are online, so I can (during slow times at work) do some of my required reading at the office.  Also, all my professors have different days on which each week's assignments are due.  This means I won't be scrambling trying to get it all done at once.  It will be possible for me to designate certain nights for certain subjects.  Life is much easier for me when I compartmentalize this way.  Despite all the times I've had to go *gulp* while looking over my courses, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about my first semester.  Of course, that could change the first day I do observations. ;-)  I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how it's going!