The Year of the-

Wally-less shopping.

I'm putting it on my blog which is the closest thing for me to signing in blood or carving in stone.

I am NOT shopping at the place for the next year- starting now.

Here's to keeping my sanity.

I Live At School and Other Common Misconceptions

Tomorrow I will be welcoming 25 kindergartners into my classroom or (as in their minds)- aka my home. Besides having pre-operational brains, they are probably apt to think this because, well, I do spend a lot of time there. The beginning of the year involves a lot of planning, bulletin board decorating, and quite frankly I'm not sure what quite zaps all my time. But it's worth it to get the year started right. ABSOLUTELY. In fact they make a kid's book about it: Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten. You're groaning- I read it :)

This year I'm particularly excited since I'm going to be working in a school district I've been wanting to teach in, at a school I'm enjoying, and with a population of students that is near and dear. I'm thankful for this opportunity and am praying that I will be able to love each and every one of these kiddos well.

And now... I will go punch holes and put yarn through my nametags!

Two Things

One because I'm a nerd, and one to try and erase that image by making me seem cool:

1. I found Candy Land!! And- I scored the Saturday ARC deal and only had to pay 50 cents. Granted, I think most of the cards were missing, but that's okay because what I really need is the board. To help my students (who I will begin meeting this week!!) memorize their color words, I will be writing the color words on new cards. First in their corresponding color, and then in black. They will pull a card, read the word, and move to the matching square. I am too excited about this....

2. I am now an official participant in the the Denver Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon! This will be the second one for me, but the last one was almost 5 years ago, so it's been a while. I'll be running with my friend Carissa, and we spent and hour and a half planning our running schedule, much to the amusement of Eric. Well, we both are teachers. Hmm... now I am definitely coming full circle back to teacher nerd. So yay! I'm running a 1/2!!!

Middle Class Moment

"They" say that different characteristics are generally true of the different socio-economic classes represented in the United States. For example, most Americans who would consider themselves "middle class" take great pride in finding good deals and bargains, so much so that a compliment on an outfit, furniture piece, etc. is often followed by "And it only cost me ___ because...". The inherent "cheapness" for which said object was acquired generally boosts the value of the item in the owner's mind.

So, if you would spare me this vice...

Yesterday, I went to the local ARC thrift store to find this:

(I want it for my classroom to teach color words.)

And I came home with this:

Before you, you can see my two good as new pairs of Lucky and Ann Taylor jeans, a NY & Co. pair of black capris, and two pairs of pants from Target and once again Ann Taylor. Now lest you think I paid full thrift store price for these beauties, let me clarify that all of these pants were 1/2 off due to the Saturday tag sale for a grand total of about $20.

Now you know my secret, and I value these five pants all the more. The only additional cost I should mention is that while I was waiting to try on my finds, I saw a kid walk by carrying... you guessed it... Candy Land. Lesson learned: Hit up the game section first before moving on to deal diving.

You Can Only Drink Fake Coffee With True Friends

Eric and I were so blessed by a visit from some of our dearest and best friends, Julie and Chase, early last week. We got lucky and got 2 days of their short time home visiting from Nicaragua where they serve in a ministry called One-by-One.

Not to worry, though, we maximized our time! In less than 48 hours, we managed to play Settlers, Bang, and Puerto Rico almost to our hearts' content; cook a meal together; watch hilarious You Tube videos; stay up ridiculously late*; and even hit up some Denver establishments.

The only unfortunate part of this experience was that it was way.too.short. I am looking up the cost of plane tickets, and Eric is looking into teleporting devices.



*This tradition was happily started long ago by Julie and Nicole. For years, Chase and Eric have attempted to scoff at this practice, but secretly, they like it too.

Today Began at 3:45 a.m.

But it was worth it. Thanks Mt. Bierstadt for making us really tired and really happy, and giving us a top of the mountain view.

Also of note, our not pictured friend/man behind the camera, aka Aaron, also joined us and climbed his first 14er today. He also well documented it. So maybe you can see more of my Colorado 14er travel guide tomorrow!

3,000 feet below


3, 000 feet higher

Mixing Family with Vacation

In addition to taking a work break and enjoying the ocean, we also got to see some family! Two uncles, one grandma, and one new aunt later ... we had seen some lovely sights with some lovely people!