Day 97!

Why did I wait so long to watch Pitch Perfect?! So amazing and so much awesome music! It was super, super funny and adorable.

Today, in other words, was quite awesome. I got grading done but also spent a lot of time with my family.

Happiness is beating my dad by crib by one point, while having a beer out in the screen house. :)

I also managed to make spicy queso dip for the first time for my brother's bbq tomorrow. It was kickin' and will hopefully be a success!

Me, the dip, and my arsenal of spicy sauces!

It's good to be back in the 603!

Day 96 (Friday)!

Today was so beautiful about and luckily the day was just as smooth. It was 75 and sunny by the time I left work and began the drive home. We had a decent meeting during the early release and I managed to get some more grading tackled during the day. It's hard to believe the school year is almost done.

The best part about my day, though?

Watching hockey with dad, while the Kings were up. :)

Bring it, game 7. #GoKingsGo

Day 95 (Thursday)!

BeThursday was both good and way too long. The day began with my walk to work, then work, then night class, then community band, and finally my walk home. Thankfully the sun doesn't set until nearly 9!

I wanted to curl up and sleep but baking waited. I am proud to say that I overcame the Williamson curse and BAKED A BATCH OF BROWNIES!!! (That look all brownie and no hockey puck.) hopefully they sell well at the fundraiser.

Being proud of my oven!

Day 94 (Wednesday)!

Today may have started gloomy but man did it turn out to be a beautiful day!

Work was very busy but super productive and I discovered I had a chance to actually see a home softball game.

Happiness is cheering on my students in the sunshine with an iced coffee!!

My phone was dead, so the photo is stock, but it was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, the team we played was undefeated, loud, and had a crazy pitcher. After a slow start, we never recovered in time. It was still really fun to see their game.

Who knew softball could be so fun to attend as a spectator?!

Day 93!

I am 100% thoroughly knackered after today and am happy to say to all my friends who don't believe it happens: I am going to bed!

Water and a slightly off iHome to prove my readiness to sleep!

I had a good day, it was just very long and tiring. Finally the rain held off and I could enjoy the brisk walk to work. In general, I feel like most of my students learned something today and I can see that, even though time is short, they're getting to be exposed to symbolism and complex writing and getting better at analysis. My night class students were actually really quite focused on their essays, which meant I got a ton of time to grade. I have a tiny bit left then it's to the projects.

I feel, for the first time in a while, like I can see the end of the tunnel and I think I can make it before I drown.

Day 92!

Today I had to head home to Maine and conclude the weekend that felt so much like summer. I am definitely not mentally ready for work to start back up!

I did enjoy the good weather and missing most of the rain. I got in a nice walk and a lovely family brunch before heading out.

My happy point of the day? Hitting an awesome sale and getting a new suit!

As today is Veteran's Day, I also want to thank all who serve or have served for their sacrifices. A huge thank you to my dad for his 20 years in the Navy!

Day 91 (Sunday)!

Today was another lovely day at home. I got to go to the gym - how nice is it to have a close gym?! - get some grading done, get my parents to watch Firefly, and relax in front of the fire.

True sign of summer upon us: beers and camp fires!

And, because it's my family, the overtime Rangers Habs game on the iPad in the left corner. Best of both worlds.

Day 90!

Dorothy go it right. Sometimes there really is "no place like home."

Despite not being overly productive, I was able to relax and unwind today. It ended up as a flurry of boardgames, first with my family and second with friends. I dearly love boardgames!

Playing crib with the boyos!

Cards Against Humanity!

To answer any questions: there is not enough wine on earth to make this a not awkward game to play with your parents. It remained, while perhaps disturbing, tremendously fun.

Alexis once again hosted a fabulous boardgame night where I played Haunted Hill(?) and Lords of Watersomething(?). Both were new and great!

It is good to just be social!

Day 89!

Yesterday's post didn't publish for some reason, so it's showing today as well. For those that don't know, I blog on my phone and think this may effect things like reliability.

In any case, today was a much better day with much better behaved students. The AP class was super productive and they loved the cake. To quote one student on my first ever frosting (okay more like in between a ganache and frosting) attempt: "I don't like dark chocolate and this was good." :)

The best part about today though?

Getting to go home and admire the views!

Of course rain found me eventually, but summer is trying! I wish the farmer's almanac were wrong. :( I like rain, just not for so long and so unpredictably that I can't walk to work.

At least I am home know with family and the ever spunky kitty, Nicola, and Joey.

Asleep on my side of the bed (again). He has since moved (or been moved /:( ) spots to behind my knees. :) 

Day 88!

Today was probably the worst day I have had in quite some time. I don't want to go into it, but suffice it to say that the way I was spoken to and the behavior that occured during one class in particular rather spoiled the whole day, putting me right out of sorts.

Highlights included actually successfully disciplining a different class for how they treated the sub, having a good meeting with the curriculum coordinator, and having community band.

Lows included forgetting to go to the softball/baseball game, not packing, and forgetting to buy baking supplies/forgetting until midnight to bake.

My (hopefully) happy moment:

My finished French Vanilla cake with Dark Chocolate frosting. It looks a bit like tar but it smells good.

Day 87 (Wednesday)!

Today was honestly rather ordinary in comparison to everything else. I was tired but productive and my students were much more subdued and useful than Monday.

One thing that made me happy was seeing my credit recovery kids quite vehemently tuck in.

I can't give you a real pic of them, so here's an artist rendering. ;)

Only two more classes left and they know they're got to do this. We had 45 min of frantic research finishing, then presenting (these were less impressive than hoped), then essay work. They were eagerly asking to take on more themes than required and had found the 5 suggested quotes; many were looking to have at least 8 for their essay. I was impressed to say the least.

Now to see if they can actually get there...

Day 86!

Today I got to be a part of a really exciting workshop for MCCL.

MCCL is the Maine Cohort for Customized learning. They are unpacking the Common Core and other standards into learning targets so that students can progress through knowledge. This is becoming what's known as Proficiency Based Learning (aka Standards Based Learning).

I was pretty darned skeptical at year's start but my Marzano class, a video I watched yesterday, and today really got my gears firing. I don't like everything they say, but who does? I can just see logic.

Our home for the day!

A group of 5 of us from different schools worked on AP English standards. We got the chance to actually write a draft of the curriculum itself; these are things to be added or altered to fully address College Board and the Common Core's requirements. This will be considered and possibly put into the Educate software. It was a challenge, but incredibly interesting.

And in case you're wondering, I like the Common Core for ELA - it has rigor and a great inclusion of informational texts and varied writing. I like rigor:

Day 85 (Monday)!

This was another one of those incredibly long, long days. I went from work to night class to driving to a conference, almost 3 hours away.

On the bright side, far away conference = hotel!

My lovely room at the Hilton with its huge bed!

The hotel is swanky and very pretty, with really rich wall and carpet color. I was glad to find good water pressure in the shower and nice neutrogena bath things.

There's just something about getting away to a hotel, even for a night, that is inherently relaxing. I slept like the dead and that was much needed.

Day 84!

I wasn't feeling particularly well today, but I did my best to focus on being as productive as possible. It's hard to be useful when one's insides are in knots; however, a few hours spent reading and lying down got me at least ready to try. The worst thing? I was actually up quite early! Waste of an easy morning wake up!

In any case, I got a lot of laundry done and managed to half clean everything. What made me happy today, though, was nailing my first attempt at hash browns!

Bangers, scrambled eggs, and hash browns for dinner!

I have taken Gordon Ramsay's advice and turned to making my eggs in a pot with success; it makes them very fluffy. The bangers are also nicely spicy. It was a good, protein based meal to have after a queasy day.

I am just loathe to continue all this miserable rain.

Day 83 (Saturday)!

For a day that started out slow and rather lazy, it turned out quite spectacularly.

I headed down to the city to go to the gym. For a $5 franchise fee, whatever that is, I could use their PF facility. It ended up being a great way to relieve stress, let my mind wander, and watch Montreal get slaughtered.

Knowing that it's wasteful to drive an hour each way solely for the use of the gym, I had to find other things to usefully do. I had brought my laptop and so I camped out in a Starbucks for a few hours to do work.

Then came the awesome:

Nothing is better than new books.

I walked in with zero idea what I would get, just that I wanted to read; I walked out with quite the finds. I have since already devoured Soulless, a marvelous urban fantasy novel set in slightly Steampunk Victorian England with a wonderfully sassy heroine. I promised my brother I would read the Bladerunner book, and I do love dystopian novels. The Ayn Rand monstrosity was a promise to my AP students, who both loved it and suffered through it last year and insist I read it. Rand seems to be incredibly intellectually popular, with a whole institute, but I had honestly never heard of her until this year. Not a pip about her in any literature class. I rather regret that gap in my education.

Now excuse me, this rain simply requires more reading. Sleep? Pssssh!

Day 82!

Back on day track, woo! I don't know what it's been about this week but my frazzle level has been off the charts. I'm not overly stressed about anything in particular, but the melding of all things at once just make things harder to handle.

My students and I agreed that this week felt backwards; Tuesday felt like a Friday and today felt more like a Monday.

Despite the flurry, I was very efficient at work and my lessons only had minimal interruptions. We had some awesome Gatsby work going, a strong study sesh and quiz, and absolutely crazy participation from last period. A reduction from 20 to 15 (several of whom were late due to a chem lab so it seemed like 10) had a very startling effect on my students and our class; we got a lot done and almost everyone was involved. I was a proud peacock today for a large amount of time.

It was also mad gorgeous out. The clouds cleared and with the sun bursting out, temps soared to 75 with a nice breeze. My walks were fantastic.

To cap off my happy day:

The Kings stomped the Ducks, 6 - 2, to advance to round 3.

It was a high energy, dominant game that was fun to watch. As the NHL affiliate of my home team, the Monarchs, I have an excitable soft spot for the Kings and their sassy, sassy twitter account. Those who know me know this from their cup run.

Also, because I told my mum I'd share:

Local bacon and pepperoni pizza! Why shop chains?

Plus, it's emergency dinner leftovers to keep in the freezer and it was so nice not to stress or cook or do anything tonight.

Nom nom :)

Day 81 (Thursday)!

Thursday was actually quite a really productive, solid day. The weather was cloudy but warm and I got to walk to work for the second time that week!

By far the best part of Thursday though? BAND!

Despite the fact that I live in a very small town, a local accompanist worked with the rec department to create a community band!

I spent Thursday evening in the band room playing some Sousa and upbeat marching classics with folks from town. There were around 12 of us - most instruments covered - and we were quite good with the sight reading.

It was so much fun playing again!

Day 80! (Wednesday)

I have been so terribly exhausted this week that I'm a titch behind. Like I literally started typing this last night and woke up on my phone with blogger still open. Forgive me?

After a mournful Bruins game, I decided to cheer myself up with some EPIC Kitchen Dancing.

This mix is aces! I blasted the music and cooked up some chicken for salads and chopped fruit. It was cathartic.

Plus, who doesn't like singing loudly to kind of embarrassing music while drinking scotch?

It was that or cry. I get a little emotional about hockey. (That's probably the biggest lie ever) I am proud of my team but also still sad that our season is over. My West Coast boys are still in it, so let's do it.

I need sleep.

Day 79 (Tuesday)!

So I pretty much fell asleep right after hitting repost on the Monday blog since it didn't go through. Tuesday was actually a pretty good day; it was the Spring concert.

My school's choir, honor choir, and band performing a combined song.

It was a great show both because the pieces were at their level and because I had played or was very familiar with most of the pieces. The honor choir even did the old war song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" that I haven't heard in years.

It was a long - 13 hrs - long day at school, but it was productive and the concert was worth the stay.

Day 78! (Monday, publishing glitch)

Today was rather long and exhausting. Work had both good and rough parts. My walk was nice, albeit chilly to start.

I had fun getting all decked up in Bruins gear and heading out to cheer on the Bs at Buffalo Wild Wings!

The game was atrocious, however. My food was tasty and I had a great waitress, though. I'm glad I went to Bangor because I picked up some new shorts. I just really wish we had showed up and pounded Montreal last night.

Alas, game 7 awaits. Who's surprised? No one.

Day 77!

Much driving occuree today, but all was worth it due to both the Bruins and the fact that it is Mother's Day!

I am very greatful to have such a supportive and loving mum. She's sarcastic and honest but funny and seriously always there for me, especially in those moments when I just need to talk. Which is obviously never, I'm a very quiet person (this is a huge lie haha unless I'm in a larger group of people and/or I have never met you).

I decided to take a small (rather big) detour on my drive back to my apartment to surprise my mum for the day.

She had no idea! Then we took crazy pictures.

It was awesome to see the look of surprise on her face when "the package on the front porch" was me jumping out from behind the side of the house!

What a photobomb, mum, you crazy biddy. <3

Day 76! (Saturday)

Everything about today was amazing.

The day began with going to the gym with Alexis. Following a short drive to my brother's and an interlude of petting his roommate's fluffy cats, we travelled into Boston. We hit up North Star and then headed to the Garden for the Bruin's game!

We might have been way up there, but the game was PHENOMENAL!

The garden was rocking and the energy never abated. Seeing us beat the Canadiens in a playoff game was just unbeleivable.

That night I even met up with friends at the game and for drinks afterwards.

It was a fantastic day and evening!

Day 75!

My chickadees flew the best today to take the big AP exam. I sat anxiously by in a conference room, fingers crossed, trying to accomplish grading. Those I saw said it went well, one section harder and the other easier than our prep. It's a long wait until July results.

My other classes were rather busy but they seem to have positive feelings about reading Gatsby next. If I can get them positive about reading, I am one happy English teacher.

Getting myself ready to leave proved a task and a half but I did and I survived the drive to Civiliztion, aka the North Shore.

I watched Big Fish for the first time ( I know! ) tonight.

Don't ask me why I took the pic at the sheep part. Not sure.

I'm staying with a good friend tonight who cooked a lovely dinner (see, blog official seal of tasty approval!). Also, Cherry Wine - very interesting and yummy.

Big Fish left me with a lot of emotions. I want to watch it again and think more. Also, I can see this being a phenomenal film to teach...narrative and truth and legacy...what a cool unit idea! I was happy and sad and wondered how to think of the father or the son. I won't spoil it ( I mean it's like 10 years old, I probably could ), but it was just very intricate and the way reality and truth melted and formed was incredibly unique and refreshing. It was beautifully shot and that have it just the romantic, fantastical atmosphere it needed.

Any other movies I have to see the maybe I haven't?

Day 74!

I AM FULL OF EMOTIONS OF JOY AND EXCITEMENT!

That was seriously the most intense hockey game I have seen in a long while and seeing the Bruins win was a special kind of HELL YEAH. It capped off my night.

Other highlights: there is a DUNKINS coming to my town (OMG DUNKINS), my day was productive, my night class was fun, and the day was beautiful.

My happy moment of today actually happened first thing.

My view walking the 1.8 miles to work. I will never tire of it.

It just got more gorgeous:

Today was stunning.

It was just one good freaking day, man. It was an early release and my kids were focused. My meetings went really well and my mentor and I got a lot done.

Also, my family is the freaking best. All four of a had a thread going troughout the game with reactions and jokes and EMOTIONS. It was beautiful. I'm glad I made die hard hockey converts out of the lot of them.

Now it's Go Kings Go, but mostly Go Bed Go because zzzzzz. 

Day 73!

Today was definitely less good. It was busy and there were just a few attitude issues that surprised me. Actually, most of today was perfectly fine; I am just getting hung up on a few moments.

I suck at the don't take things personally and move on part of teaching.

I do have one awesome thing to report from the exam stress side of my world:

I am confident they're as ready as possible!

Today I saw the average correct multiple choice answers raise from 17/55 to 45/55! I was blown away by their confidence and improvement. I am very proud and hope they sensed that and feel like they can kick the exam's tush.

I'm still stressed about it, though. Empathetic stress, man! 

Day 72!

Today was a long, 13 hour at work day. I have things to say but I am going to sleep. See tomorrow for a cute picture and an explanation!

Here we are!

Handmade angel from a student!

Tuesday was a busy but very productive day. My night class did a lot of work on their project and I got my room cleaned a bit for the showcase. I met with several parents and had some good conversations with colleagues. Not to mention phenomenal trifle. These culinary students, man!

The academic awards portion of the evening was efficiently run and very packed. It was great to see some of my students get honored and have the chance to honor some of my top performers. It's hard to make the choice, but it's great to see how proud they looked when their name was called. :)

I was glad to have a chance to do a lot of positive stuff on this day.

Day 71!

Today was very long and I am wrecked, but it was a good day.

Lessons seemed to go well and I got a lot of grading accomplished. This evening I was part of a fundraiser where teachers work at McDonald's for two hours and NHS got half the profits for a scholarship. It was surprisingly exhausting work!

Thankfully the sun was out and is around late so I got in a good walk afterwards. This was followed by a very exciting part of the evening: the return of 24!

An epic photo for an epic show.

I won't spoil anything for readers who might not have watched it yet; however, suffice it to say it was phenomenal and worth both the break and the hype up. I am a squealing fan girl!

I have some other cool things in the works so hopefully I'll let you all know more soon. Now I am going to go sleep like the dead because my energy is at zero.

Day 70!

One day weekends just aren't enough. I need another day to really get myself up to speed, especially since this week is going to be a jam packed doozy.

Today was a mix of relaxing and being productive. Obviously I could have used more productive but, it is what it is and I got most of the domestic side of things done.

Today's main source of happiness is finishing all my laundry, including sheets and towels.

Spring is finally here and while it's been wet as can be, it's time to get the spring sheets out and tuck away the jersey knits. I can deal with rain; I'm done dealing with snow. Rain meant no walking, but I was rocking the Zumba in between dryer loads. What will make me even happier? A dryer that doesn't take a quarter century. Oh well, at least it's in my apartment...the little things you don't think about before you become a real person.

Life has way too many of these fine print, I didn't properly read the terms and conditions, details. Alas, all I can do is keep calm and carry on. In clean jeans. ;)

Day 69!

Today (I'm going back to sleep, so I'm saying today) was busy and fulfilling. It was very strange today to be in a room again, taking the SAT...well, administering it, but when you're reading and scribing, it's impossible not to mentally take it as well.

With the extended time, it was a long day. Thankfully, the school bought pizza for the special ed students and proctors to have at a break. Our testing went from 7:45 - 2:45; we needed that lunch break.

The rest of the day went uphill from there: THE LAST PERIOD OF THAT BRUINS GAME! I shouted and cheered and was so, so proud and happy. I was super glad to see the Kings take Game 1 over Anaheim as well. Thanks, hockey gods!

This photo below, though, takes the cake at summarizing my day's happiness:

This was taken from the town beach, on my walk; it's just a few minutes from my house.

Winter and snow and ice were around for so terribly long that I almost forgot how incredibly beautiful my town can be. The lighting last night in the hour before sunset was absolutely stunning. The fresh air cleared my headache away and took away the chill I was feeling, and the walk was very stress relieving.

I wish the rain would let up some so that I can have more afternoon's like this one!

Day 68!

So, this one time I was just scrolling on tumblr and ended up wandering onto an Upworthy post with a new Button Poetry poem called "21."

Two hours, a couple of tissues, and a whole bunch of YouTube favorites later, I realized I should go to bed because I'm proctoring the SAT tomorrow.

Happiness is the glorious freedom of expression found in Slam Poetry.

Seriously, go watch the poem in the pic, even if you hate poetry, no, especially if you think you hate poetry. Call me when you stop sobbing because damn. 

There's so much raw emotion in slam and so many touchy issues from gender to body image to rape culture to racism to everything; no holds are barred.

Love it!

Day 67!

So this thing happened, called the Stanley Cup playoffs and 2OT hockey...so I took my picture and forgot to post because I completely passed out. I barely made it into my bedroom, haha. My couch is too comfortable, as anyone who has slept on it can attest.

In any case, happiness is big rivalry hockey!

If you are wondering, almost all of my texts to my dad were all caps, gibberish letters of feelings, curse words, and hockey emotions. It was an INSANE game and while I am so sad the Bruins lost (can we just about the shots on goal?! Damn you, Price!), it was hella entertaining hockey at the end.

In any case, I need a game 5 so I can use the ticket I bought! Haha