Husband and I
are officially...

Recyclers.

It feels good.
I'm really glad we live in an area that offers curbside recycling.

♥

It's official...I'm a sell out.

So, these particular shoes...

Have been popular for years.

And I have never understood why.

Sure, they may be comfortable.

However, I have a little too much self-confidence to sacrifice style for comfort to that degree.

I have always spoken out against ever buying anything from the Croc brand for myself, because I don't like them.

That being said, I have had foot pain every single shift since I started working at Family Video two years ago.  Sometimes, after an especially long shift, the pain radiates up into my legs and back.

When I work several days in a row, there are mornings when I wake up, and I literally can hardly walk, because I'm sore and stiff.

I've always just thought it was part of having a job where you were on your feet.

But lately, I've been pretty fed up with it, and decided to do something about the pain.

We were walking by the crocs in Dick's sporting goods today, and I saw some crocs that didn't look like the normal crocs.

They looked like this.

And I thought "Hey, those aren't bad at all!" 

And then I put them on.

And oh. my. gosh.

They are so unbelievably, fantastically, wonderfully, amazingly comfortable.

So I bought them.

And I am so excited to get to wear them to work, because they are going to make my feet so much happier.

So do I feel like a bit of a sell out? 

After years of talking about how worthless Crocs are?

Yes. 

Yes I do.

But I don't care too much, because my feet are so happy.

And on a completely, random, seperate topic,

My mom had an excess of raspberries this year, so she made jam and canned it.

She's awesome.

And she gave me one of her jars of jam.

And I have had a bagel with cream cheese and raspberry jam practically every day since.

delicious.

It's been a great week so far.

Ready for more.

♥

Keepin' on keepin' on.

Another crazy week has past.

My team teacher, who I rely on for half of the planning and teaching, was out for the entire week.

It turned into a less-than-pretty situation.

The long and short of it is I did all the teaching last week, and all of the planning for this week.

It was exhausting.  

But, I can honestly say that I received some really positive feedback about stepping up in a tough situation, and that my teaching abilities drastically improved during that week.

So, there was some positivity that came out of it all.

I also started counting calories again.

I have gained 18 pounds since school started. (gasp!)

I realized that it is because I don't work very hard to monitor what I'm eating.

When you work 18 hours a day, you get into a habit of just grabbing something.

So, starting last wednesday, I downloaded an app from a website that counts your calories, subtracts calories burned through exercise, and tracks your progress, and even your nutrition. It's free, and based off of myfitnesspal.com

So far it's been pretty difficult, the first week always is.  But, this is how I lost weight my freshman year at Ball So I know if I just stick through it, it will get easier, and it WILL work.

I get to do a little proud mama bragging for a few minutes.

I created a 6 week long poetry unit for my fifth graders, with the thought that if I could just help one of them develop a love for creative writing, then it would be a success.

While I do hear "I hate poetry." daily, there are definitely a few of my students who have taken a love to it. I'm so proud of them, and hopefully I will be able to share some of their writings eventually.

They make me really proud that I can give these kids a way to express their feelings.

On a random note, My in-laws and niece Sarah stopped by (unannounced) and brought their new chocolate chihuahua puppy.

This is the pandaemonium that ensued in my backyard.

hahaha, it was pretty amusing.

My spring break starts in 4 days!!! 

I am so so so excited!

And Sunday is my first day off from school AND work since January!!

We are going to see Amos Lee in concert at the Murat that night, and I am so pumped.

It will be a much needed break.

I plan on blogging every day that week, because I miss it so.

Looking forward to my week off, and hope everyone is doing well!

♥

Veggie burgers and bedtime

Had the most delicious veggie burger ever yesterday. It's an "Amy's Kitchen" brand, and called "All American Burger." It was Awesome. I think I almost like them better than regular hamburgers. (Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but whatever.)

I have had two really, really, REALLY long days. Both of them basically consisted of 8 hours of work, and then coming home to an empty house. And then Jamie came home in the morning, and went to sleep because he is on nights, and that was the only time I got to see him. Boo.

I hate this empty bed. I am so ready for him to be transfered so that he doesn't work nights, and i don't have to sleep alone. It really sucks.

On another sucky note, I have to take a summer class that I wasn't expecting to have to take, so I start class again on Tuesday. Ugggh. I am so sick of school.

Luckily, I have two days off, and Jamie has both of those days off, so I am going to get to spend time with him. And, we have another date night scheduled for this Thursday.

So excited!

And, on another positive note, I got to have lunch with my momma today!!! I have missed her. We didn't used to get along all that well, but we have because so much closer in the past year. I love her so much.

By the way, I kicked major butt on my grocery shopping, and got everything on the list and then some within the budget. Go me.

Ready for Jamie to come home.

♥