It's Been Awhile

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged.  Life has been crazy.  It's been busy.  It's been stressful.

I keep thinking life will slow down and it doesn't.  Why?!?  I keep trying to find things I can cut from my life to make it less busy but there's nothing to cut.  It is what it is.

Work has been super stressful.  I have like 20 hairs left in each eyebrow and my mouth is covered in canker sores.  Lovely.  There are a lot of reasons work is stressful.  At the top of the list is that I remember what my school was like before all this craziness.  I remember how smoothly things ran.  I remember when I looked forward to coming to work.  None of those things are true now.

I miss blogging.  That means I need to make the time to do it.  But that also means giving up something else like family time or reading or watching Blue Bloods (gotta get my dose of Donnie Wahlberg! lol).

Maybe if my stress level was down everything wouldn't seem like such a chore.  I need to work on that.  Do you have any book recommendations I can read that teach how to reduce your stress level?  Or any suggestions at all? I'm willing to try anything really!

Wordless Wednesday

Jay was obsessed with the sheep in Ireland!

What's Your Favorite Thing About Your Job?

At a recent conference a lady asked "What's your favorite thing about your job?"

This caught me off guard. 

Normally people ask "What do you love about your job?" Which allows for a list of things I love. And I do have a list. 

But asking what my favorite thing is about my job made me feel like I needed to pick one thing. My very favorite thing. 

So after the lady asked me I felt like I sat there like a dork silently thinking about my one favorite thing. I felt awkward. She probably thought nothing of it. Ha!

I finally said "Those 'ah ha' moments." Because really this does encompass a lot of my favorites. 

When a student and I find a book they end up loving. 

When I teach students how to find books in the library and they get it. 

When students help me shelf books and they do it right. 

When I start a club like my Code Club and students excel & thrive in it. 

When a student who hates reading learns to love read with my help. 

The list is long my friends so I'll stop here. 

It's such a simple question "What's your favorite thing about your job?" But it's a question that's stuck with me and made me think frequently about it. And made me blog about it. Ha!

What's your favorite thing about your job?

Five For Friday-Ireland

1. Driving on the wrong side of the road.  What an experience!

2.  Sheep!  Sheep everywhere!  Sheep in the roads.  Sheep on the side of the road.  Sheep everywhere!

3. Oh the rain!  It rain off and on everyday except one day when it did nothing but pour.

4. A 10 hour plane ride is not fun.  Not fun at all.

5.  The conference was awesome.  I learned so much from attending session.  I was amazed at how many people were interested in our project.

Invasion of Frogs

Ok... maybe my title is an exaggeration.  Maybe it wasn't an invasion.  And maybe it wasn't frogS.  Maybe it was just one frog.

But why?!

Why does a killer frog jump in my house the night my husband isn't home?  It's like the murderous frog knew Jay wasn't home.

I let Maggie, our black lab, out to potty last night and I see something slink in the house.  I thought it was a gecko.  I followed Maggie on outside to make sure she did her business and contemplated my next move with (what I thought was) the gecko.

I decided to get a plastic cup to capture it then put something heavy on top to hold the cup down.  After that I didn't have a plan.  I sure wasn't going to get it outside.  I did think if I saw the neighbor I might ask him to come get it otherwise... it was going to be waiting for Jay to get home.

When Maggie and I got back in the house I quickly realized my mistake.  It wasn't a gecko.  It was a frog.

I really don't know which is worse.

So I get my trusty plastic cup and a water bottle to put on top for weight and head to the corner of the breakfast room where the frog sits in the corner.  Maggie, my trusty protector is by side with her ears alert and eyes on the prize.

Except...

She charges the frog before I do which sends it hopping behind the breakfast table.  And makes me scream like a little girl.  Which makes Reagan come running out of her room to check on me.

I local the frog again and quickly capture it with the plastic cup and sit the water bottle on top.

My brave 14 year old daughter uses a paper plate and a bundle of bunched up paper towels to get the killer frog out the back door.  Thank goodness for her bravery cuz that vicious frog would still be waiting under the plastic cup for Jay to get home.