Sugar-Free

A few years ago, I tried to stop eating sweets and desserts for a month. Steff (my roommate at the time) did it with me and it was pretty tough. You can read more about it here and here. At the approach of this new year, I decided to try it again.

Last time I did it, I struggled in the beginning but it got easy quite quickly. This time was so different. Three weeks into it I was still struggling and having bad cravings but pushed forward. I told myself I would do it until it was no longer hard to do. It worked! It got easy and I stopped just in time for V-Day. It worked so well that I was having a hard time making myself eat all the sweets I got from my lovely kiddos.

During this time back on sugar, my face broke out more than it has in a loooooong time and I felt so yucky. I was not happy, so I'm back on again. Let's see how long I can make it last this time. Who knows, maybe forever!

Limited sweets has brought about so many unexpected benefits. A cleared-up face is just the start!

Typically when I over eat salty foods I counteract it with sweets. Without sweets, my appeal for salty foods has diminished and I crave good, healthy foods! Also, those impulse buys at the grocery store have ceased. Seeing as I can't eat the food I typically impulsively buy, I don't buy them and I''m saving money. I lost three pounds the first two weeks I did this. What a fast way to lose a couple pounds!

Remember What's Important

I had a humbling moment the other day. Let me share.

My day began like every other day. Students enter somewhat louder than I would like but quickly quiet themselves as they sit at the carpet. Lunch counts are put in, backpacks are put away, homework is turned in, and several students so kindly remind me of EVERYTHING I have forgotten (the schedule on the board, the calendar, adding a straw to our counting bags, changing the date on the board, handing out the table prizes from the day before, etc.) If it's possible to forget it, I've forgotten it. Fortunately for me, I have 23 voices in my head mercilessly reminding me. This particular morning I had forgotten to switch the calendar from January to February and apparently it was everyone's responsibility to let me know because one person telling me just isn't enough. Before my patience could be worn thin from endless reminders, I took the time to tell my students that February happens to be one of my favorite months. I told them it is the month of my favorite holiday: Valentine's Day. We talked for a few moments (enough to calm me down) about what makes Valentine's Day so great, and the day continued from there.

Lesson one from teaching: If your students are driving you crazy, tell them a little something about yourself and they instantly become engaged and you calm down. I promise. It works.

Reading time ensued soon after and my patience was almost worn through once more.

You see, during reading time my students have a list of things they have to get done while I read with small groups of students. If they finish everything on the list there are some 'Can-Dos' for them. For those of you that are visual learners, said reading ticket is shown below.

Lately I've had a problem with them playing around with the 'Can-Do' materials instead of actually doing them. Yesterday was no different. I looked over at my desk to see a noisy group of students all huddled together with my magnet letters. My first instinct was to send them back all to their seats. They were noisy and there was no way they could all be using my one set of letters. Yes, students, I'm not stupid. I know what's going on over there. I know that even though you look busy you aren't staying on task. You can't fool me. I was just about to send them all back to their desks but I decided I just didn't feel like fighting them today so I continued teaching my small group. Reading time soon ended and my class cleaned up and headed out to recess.

Knowing these students weren't on task I knew they probably didn't get all cleaned up either. I trudged over to my desk to pick up the forgotten magnets on the floor. To my humbling surprise I found no magnets on the floor. Instead I found just this:

(Happy Valentine's Day Miss Wood

love

the class)

Here I was ready to get upset with them and they were working together to write me this love note.

Upon returning from recess, those students all came up to ask if I had found their secret note for me. Ha! I couldn't help but smile and tell them it was the best surprise I had ever found. I think that note will be staying up for a while. Not just because it isn't Valentine's Day yet but as a reminder to myself to trust my students a little more and lighten up on them a little. Leave it to kids to teach all the important lessons of life.

Christmas Trees... Past and Present

As an update to my last post let me just say that the Lord is always there for you. I think I wrote that post in a last measure of desperation to make the pain go away and it worked! I'm happy for him and haven't really given him much thought in the past week or two. There has been too much going on. Everything is hunky dory and life is kinda fantastic right now, minus the fact that I haven't seen my students in almost a week. Darn you Thanksgiving break. I miss them!!!.

Now onto the newest chapter of the Story of My Life. This past week was Thanksgiving (obviously) and so the next day inevitably involved...

Putting up the Christmas tree!

If you thought I was going to say shopping then you must not know me very well. I am not against the whole Black Friday thing, I'm just not an avid participator.
Back to the Christmas tree... I have been the owner of a REAL Christmas tree every year since living on my own. Said Christmas trees have also been named and loved like a pet. Let's go back and reminisce...

ALEXANDER '08

This fella came from the side of a mountain near Holden, Utah. Kaylie and I stomped through mud for hours to find him and chop him down. And then we epically got lost carrying him down the mountain and came out of the clearing a mile too far. It was a lot of work but sooo worth it. He turned our house into a home.

JAMES (JIMMY) '09

My new roommates and I couldn't find a time to go tree huntin' all together so we decided to hunt for one at a nearby lot instead of the mountains. It was only fitting that since our house was the Peach Palace, we name him James (as in James and the Giant Peach). But just for kicks and giggles we called him Jimmy. He was quite the looker. You can read more about him here.

DARLA '10
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Darla :'( This is due to the fact that some young men (I will allow them to remain anonymous) decided to break into our apartment, kidnap her, and drag her across the parking lot into their own apartment, ornaments and all. They didn't even have the decency to water her. Needless to say she didn't survive very long. We still kept her until Christmas but she was dead as a doornail.

HAROLD '11

Harold (Hark, the 'Harold' Angels Sing) is my smallest tree yet and most expensive (darn you rising prices) but I still love him. For the first time every I am reusing decorations. These were all from Darla but seeing as she didn't use them much, I decided to save some money and reuse them. The finishing touch on this little guy would be the Welcome sign. The Lehi Reams is closing :'( and I found it on sale for $5. I had to get it. It has been sitting in my room with nowhere to go for a while now. After Harold was decorated my roommate and I began the search for a tree topper. What to my wandering eyes should appear, but a welcome sign ready to sit up top here. It works perfect and adds the perfect western touch. I love it!
Yes, he doesn't have lights on him yet, but don't you worry. I'll get those on once my parents bring out their decor and excess lights. I know, it's backwards. But when do I ever do anything in the right order? :)

Yay for Christmas lights, Christmas smells, Christmas sounds, and Christmas trees!!!

I'm Going To Be Obnoxiously Open About My Life

I'm writing this not because I want pity, not because all I ever talk about is the drama of my love life (because thus far, I've steared clear of that topic). I'm writing this because unfortunately it has been the story of my life for the past little while.

The Summary:
I dated a guy pretty seriously for the past 5 months. Serious enough that we were talking about getting married. The more we talked about it, the more I felt Heavenly Father's disapproval and my own disapproval stronger and stronger. So right before Halloween I ended it. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. How do you explain to someone that you love them but you get a bad feeling about being with them. Those are two contradicting statements! Amazingly however, I felt really good afterwards. As much as I missed him, I finally felt the peace in my life that I had been missing for so long. Note to self: Your first year of teaching is the wrong time to decide to get rid of your only social life. You don't get much of a chance to meet new people when you spend all day with second graders and all night with your laptop planning lessons and such. Needless to say, I've been a loner for the past little while.
I thought I was going to get lucky and would squeak by with a somewhat easy post-break up. The peace I felt made everything so easy. Then I found last week (3 weeks later) that said old boyfriend is now engaged to the girl of his dreams. My life has been a wreck ever since. Remember when I said I loved him? That didn't just go away because I didn't feel right about us. I still love him. At first, I was upset because I was in love with someone who was engaged to someone else. That felt so wrong! Then I was upset that I was still in love with this guy and it was affecting me. I'm an independent person and I hate admitting that something or someone can bother me. So here I am world, admitting that something is affecting me and I'm not as strong as I wanted to be. It sucks. Big Time. Luckily for me, I have some great family and friends who have helped me ignore everything that I have been feeling inside lately.

The Cure
My biggest distraction: School. I am loving it more and more. My students are starting to give me proof that I am actually teaching them something!!! The average score on our last math test was 8 out of 9!!!
I have also learned the application of the following quote:
“When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be. ”
― Thomas S. Monson, Pathways to Perfection: Discourses of Thomas S. Monson
One day I wondered why I didn't seem to have any of those sweet, angelic students I hear about and then this quote came to mind. So I have been treating my students as if they are angels and it's working! They have turned into the sweetest little class ever!
I have another meeting with the other interns all day tomorrow and I am seriously depressed. I don't get to see my students AND I had to write sub plans. Seriously, the worst.
Can I tell you how glad I am that I chose this profession? It's the best! The teachers I work with are so much fun and the students are adorable. A few precious examples:
- Last week I had a little girl bring a figurine of a woman she made with beads. "Miss Wood" she said, "It's you! I made it for you!" Yep, it made my day!
- I also had a parent come in last week to pick up his child and told me that his son never stops talking about how much he LOVES his teacher. How cute!
- Today, I was finally organized enough to send math homework home for the first time in a week and one student said, "Miss Wood! Do we have math homework tonight?" "Yes," I replied. Her response: "Yay! I love math homework!" Three students nearby heartily agreed with her.
I think I just might be doin' something right :)

Some Thoughts on the First Day of School...

After the shortest month of August I can ever remember, school started up yesterday. I wish I could explain the anxiety and anticipation I was feeling Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but I don't think it's possible. Let me just say this: imagine every knot you have felt in your stomach, every important job interview you have had, and every twist and lurch in your stomach as you entered the world's wildest roller coaster. Times that by ten and you come close to what I was feeling.

I have never put my life so wholly into something before. It finally feels good to see it start paying off. Let me just say, even after two days it has started paying off. I have already received four thank-you/love notes from students and numerous small gifts and hugs from them as well.

It hasn't come easy. That's for sure. Before school even started I had a couple emotional breakdowns over silly things as some of my accumulation of anxiety and stress revealed itself.
No sane person breaks out in tears because they forget about cleaning checks or because their car overheats for the first time.

One of the hardest parts about the first day of school is most definitely back-to-school night. I had numerous parents enter my classroom and give me 'the look', the look that means they think I am way too young to be teaching their child and they want to know why their child got stuck with the teacher that doesn't even look old enough to be done with high school. For most interns this isn't a problem because they are married and they have the pleasure of sticking a Mrs. before their name. For Lauren and I (the other 2nd grade intern) we are stuck with the youthful Miss in front of our name leading parents to believe that we aren't old enough or experienced enough to be their child's teacher. Lucky us. (I had some students ask me today if I was in high school or college. I asked them why they thought that and they said it was because I wasn't married. They said if I was done with college then I should be married and have kids. I told them my mom sometimes tells me the same thing).

Having said that I must say that I love the parent community of Heber City! ALL of the parents are involved in their child's education. They all want to help out in any way possible and they want to help you help their child. Not in a pushy, hovering way but in a "let's work together to help Johnny succeed" kind of way. It's soooooo helpful and encouraging. I have a great group of kids and an even better group of parents.

Halfway through the first day of school, I finished reading a story to my class and looked around the room for their teacher to let her take over teaching her class. Then I realized I was the teacher. A little frightening and intimidating? Yes. But do you know what brought me back to reality? 22 little faces staring at me like I held all the answers to the universe.

Note to self: Sometimes hot is too hot. Our school doesn't have an efficient A/C. By 10:00 a.m. we are all sweating even with the fan on. By 3:20, no one has any energy to move. I never thought I'd say this but autumn, please come soon!!!

Many people have asked my why I am working in Heber and still living in Provo. Long commute they say, scary winter driving they say, but I say THERAPY. Driving through Provo Canyon is therapeutic and it's only going to get better as the fall comes and brings it's blankets of red, orange, and yellow. All summer while driving up, Lauren and I have discussed stopping to smell the daisies. K, really it's the wild sunflowers (or whatever they're called) and we don't want to smell them, just take pictures with them. So we decided our first day of school was the perfect day to do so.

My Classroom:
It doesn't look like I did much, but this, my friends, is three weeks worth of spending all day decorating, laminating, cutting, stapling, designing and everything else in between.

Morning Calendar

Library

Desks

Star Student Board/My Desk

Birthdays/Job Chart

Please Excuse My Absence

I have done some back-to-school shopping like you've never seen it done before. I would love to tell you all about it, but every time I sit down at a computer my to-do list runs through my mind and I get deterred from my blog because school starts in LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!

Who knows when I'll have time again. Hopefully it will be sooner than later.

Some Folks to Share My Summer With

The 4th of July was so much fun to celebrate with the Haymore's again. Last time they were here Garrett was just a few weeks old.

What is my favorite part about my neice and nephews? The fact that they are so darn stinkin' cute! My sister really knows how to dress her kids. Here is Evelyn sporting her independence outfit during the parade.

With the upcoming school year approaching, my to-do list has been getting bigger and bigger and so the time came for me to quit my job to allow for more time. I have never been so sad to leave a job. I have been working at MultiLing for over three years now (which is a lot for a college job) and have been so blessed. It was the perfect student job: professional, flexible, non-stressful (most of the time), and a decent salary. I count my lucky stars (k, really I just give thanks to my Heavenly Father) for blessing me so much. Here are a few of the lovely ladies that have been my support and friends during my time there. Thank you MultiLing!

Speaking of jobs, Christi stopped in Utah for a little bit and so we got together with Charisse at the good 'ol Creamery! Can't believe that was three summers ago that we all worked together. Unfortunately Jacqui has dropped off the face of the planet (moved to Minnesota) and could not join us but it was good to catch up on all of the good times the four of us had not only while working but also at our weekly Girls' Nights.

Remember how my dad and I go to country concerts more and more often? We decided to go to some more. The Scera Shell is the best place to find good country concerts for way cheap! Last year we went and saw John Michael Montgomery. This year there are/were two fantastic concerts lined up: Mark Wills/Mark Chesnut and Sawyer Brown.
Since the tickets are so cheap we got some amazing ones: second row, front and center (I know, amazing, right?) What a night! Ugh, I hate trying to blog about concerts because there are no words that can describe a good country concert and what it makes you feel. I'm not going to even try so let me just direct you to the words of Kendra (who was so kind enough to join my pops and I on such an enjoyable evening) to help explain what a good country concert can do... click here. Okay, really. You have to click there so that you can read about the awesome picture we got that could only happen if you were on row 2!

Mark Chesnut & Mark Wills

Mark Wills

Me & Kendra LEANING ON THE STAGE!!!

Some things I have loved about having the Haymores back in Utah: EVERYTHING!!!
I'm so sorry that none of you can have nieces and nephews as cute as mine because they ARE the cutest. We are all enjoying being able to play with them again including Grandpa (my dad). He is Garrett's favorite toy. My dad was always a tough guy when it came to raising kids. Bedtime was bedtime. No exceptions. Unless your name is Garrett. Now my dad turns into a big soft marshmallow around bedtime and would do anything for that little boy.
The other day he got his four-wheeler out and became the boys' new best friend as he took them around for a ride.

What else do we love about having the Haymores back? Messy faces.
This particular afternoon's artwork was a conglomeration of Cheetos and cotton candy. Yum!



Oh, and this is a random picture I took of the sky on campus because it was just too blue to not get a picture of it. No photoshop folks, that was really what the sky and mountains looked like.