People.

Moving to a new place where you know no one is interesting. I’ve liked the anonymity, the chance to be free from obligations besides work. I can explore my new city at my own leisure without seeming anti-social.

It’s been so nice, too, having a roommate who is in the same boat as me. We are both first year teachers new to the district, let alone the state. We are actually very alike, which is crazy for being set-up without knowing each other! Both of us love hiking and the Colorado outdoors. We both like beer, but hate bananas and tomatoes. Neither of us is super extroverted, but we like going out and staying busy. We are perfectly content to both sit on the couch after school, but not talk at all. It’s not awkward, because we both need non-people time to recharge. It’s good.

It’s always a process when getting to know someone new. My roommate have reached several levels of “closeness,” if you want to call it that. It’s okay now to take each other’s laundry out of the dryer if the other person needs it. We occasionally eat each other’s food without asking, too. But we aren’t so close that we pee with the bathroom door open yet. Not sure if that’ll ever happen. I’m okay with it, but she might be too classy. :)

My teammates at work are so great! Seriously, I can’t imagine my first year teaching anywhere else. They laugh with me, sometimes at me, too. I keep them updated with all the lessons I’ve learned since moving here. We even hang out on the weekends, that’s how much we like each other. These fun people make me excited to wake up and come to work!

I’m glad I have my Nebraska people to stay in touch with, in addition to all this new people craziness. (Thank goodness we live in the days of texting and facebook.) One of my best people is even coming to visit at the end of this week! Excitement!

Living life.

I’ve realized lately that I’m really bad at watching TV. And talking on the phone.

I think I my attention span is shortening. It could have to do with the fact that usually I try doing these things after a full day of wrangling 5-year-olds, but I think there’s more to it. My personal theory: modern technology has shortened the length of time I can focus on one thing. I’m naturally a multi-tasker, but with my smartphone I can be texting, uploading photos to instagram, playing Words with Friends, checking the weather, and more all at once. I think my brain is used to being over-stimulated, or something. When I can’t see a person’s face while talking on the phone, I have a hard time focusing on only what they are saying. I try to do so many other things because I feel like I’m not being productive, and then I end up with a lot of “uh-huh”, “mmhmm”, and the like. The same goes with watching TV- I feel like I have to be doing something else while I’m watching it that I don’t really pay attention. I guess that’s not as horrible, though, because no one’s feelings could get hurt. Just some thoughts.

Here is a snapshot of my life, currently.

On any given day at work, you will find me with:

* some color of ink on my hands

* at least 5 pieces of gum in my pocket for my kiddo who constantly needs to chew

* at least 2 paper cuts

* enough hair bands, head bands, hair clips, and jewelry on my desk to open an accessory shop (all confiscated from fidgety kids)

* Songs like this or this stuck in my head

At home, you will find:

* a mountainous pile of clothes on my floor. Why do I even have a dresser?? I should be cleaning that instead of posting this, probably.

* me listening to Sia. Her music is like crack. There hasn’t been a day the past week that I haven’t listened to her…seriously addicted. Why has no one told me about her before?! She is weird and beyond wonderful.

* dessert. Always. Once the chocolate cake was gone, there was peach crisp, and then root beer floats and brownies, and now chocolate chip cookies. My roommate and I clearly have our priorities straight.

* a pile of poop on the sidewalk near our door. We thought it was bear poop, because it definitely didn’t look like it was from a cat or dog…and a week later it’s still there. Lovely.

* a pumpkin, ready for carving this weekend! It was strange going to a pumpkin patch other than Vala’s, but fun nonetheless. I know Vala’s doesn’t have that view in the background!

What up!

I feel like I should update something on this blog of mine. I always say it’s a way to record important things in my life, or even just small everyday things…but neither one of those things have happened since August 18.

I tried to find one of those questionnaires to help me structure this post – you  know one of those “name 3 things currently in your freezer, 3 things pet peeves, 3 goals you have for your life in 10 years, etc." – one of those kind of things. I couldn’t really find anything quality, though. They were all junior-high-myspace-esque, i.e. Who do you have a crush on? Do you usually sleep in a bra? Ummm…no thanks.

So not sure if this post will make any sense at all. I just thought I’d write down some current thoughts!

1. Kindergarteners make me laugh. And test my patience. All. The. Time. I’m a pretty patient person, but they make sure that I am every single day! Good thing they say cute stuff every day, too. Like the little girl who pointed to a big pumpkin in our book today and said, “My mom is fat just like that pumpkin.” Too funny!

2. I have come to actually like my snaggletooth. Really! It’s unique. Just making the best of Dr. Driscoll messing up with my braces…

3. I haven’t been skating since like…May. I need to go soon. Good thing the rink is only a mile down the road (the same place I saw Johnny Weir with my own two eyes about a month ago) :)

4. Colorado this time of year is PERFECT weather for outdoorsy things. Hiking, biking, and running are all so good!

5. Scarecrow decorations, apple cider, and visiting the pumpkin farm are things that make it seem so much like fall. I really do miss fall in the Midwest! Driving down the road and being able to see combines harvesting crops isn’t something I can do here. I do have the mountains, though, and I am amazed at how they look different at every time of day! So beautiful.

6. I could really go for a philly steak and cheese sandwich right now.

7. It’s probably past my bedtime.

8. Trying to get to ten things on my list…

9. I give up! Nine is good enough. I’ll just leave some pictures on the bottom of this post.

Work it.

Colorado will tell you whether or not you’re in shape. Straight up.

Also, skinny ≠ in shape. Just to clarify.

I can balance easily on skate blades, which is definitely part of athleticism. But I think my lungs need to catch up. The air up here is so thin and when I went on a run today I just couldn’t feel satisfied anytime I took a breath. A couple of years ago my lungs were in excellent shape; in marching band we were constantly doing breathing exercises, including ones where we had to take in all the air we could, hold it, and then take in more sips of air on top of that. They told us the point of it was to tear our lungs a little so they could become capable of holding more air. Not sure if that was true, but it felt like it!

So I’ll be working on it.  The Manitou Incline is beckoning!

Statistics show…

So yet another milestone in my life. My first year of teaching.

Not only am I the youngest teacher in the whole school, I am also the least experienced. Not sure how that makes me feel.

During our new teacher training for the district, they showed us a line graph explaining our emotions about teaching from right now on through the future. Apparently, this point in our lives is the most excited we’ll ever be about teaching. This is the peak. From this point on, we face reality, and the graph shows a significant line drop. The honeymoon stage will be over, and things will get really tough. The graph shows that it’ll eventually get better, but it will not be nearly as high as right now.

On one hand, it’s nice to know that people who have gone before us can explain what we should expect. But also, it was kind of a downer looking at that graph. Really? That’s what we have to look forward to? How hard is this going to be??

As always, I’m trying to enjoy my life right where I’m at. So I guess I could explain that as “relishing the calm before the storm.” I don’t know what lies ahead, but I know I’ve got lots of support at my school, a great roommate, and lots of friends a phone call away.

So bring on the unknown. Maybe I can defy the odds, but if not, I know I’ll be making a difference.

Creativity.

I am so thankful I have a  job that requires creativity. Oh boy, can I deliver. After years of wearing oversized forest-green polos and standing in front of a cash register, it’s a little unreal that I actually get paid to do the things that I love. Not that my summer jobs during college had to be dull…my cousin and I still found ways to spice things up.

I guess business must have been slow…

Coloring on the job.

Are those Lion King decorations on the cash register? Your eyes don’t lie.

That was “work” for us. All $7.25-an-hour of it.

Now everything’s amped up—a bigger salary, more responsibility (and consequently more stress), but also more fun. This summer I’ve had quite a few opportunities to exercise my right-brainedness.

The kids calculated the area of their hand by counting whole and half squares. I think it turned out well!

This week we made our own farms in a glove. Each finger section of the plastic glove has different seeds with a wet cotton ball, and then the glove is tied shut to keep the moisture in. They look pretty crazy hanging up in the window here. I wonder which seeds will sprout first???

Going along with the plant theme, the kids got to make the crayon leaf art that never gets old. I loved doing this as a kid.

In preparation for this upcoming school year, I decided to add cuteness to some of my essential classroom items. Presenting mod-podged clothespins…

And here’s a sort of refurbished lamp. Look at all the kindergarten cuteness.

All I can say is that it’s a win-win situation when I get to be creative and encourage kids to be creative, too!

Distressed. But not really.

I’ve never considered myself to be a crafty person when it comes to furniture. I’ve never really considered furniture, actually, until now that I’m moving and most of mine is too big to move! What’s in my bedroom in my parents’ house is just a random mis-matched dresser, bookcase, and shelves. I’m beginning to think about what I want to have in a house someday, and in an apartment for the near future.

I found a dresser at a thrift store the other day. It’s a small size, and will travel nicely the almost-600 miles I’ll be driving to my new home!

Here is the before picture…

And here it is after I got done with it.

I learned how to distress a dresser…pretty simple, actually. Just rough it up with sandpaper, paint it whatever color you want, and then rough it up with more sandpaper once the paint is dry. I changed the knobs and they’re actually distressed wood, too, painted green (at Hobby Lobby for two bucks a piece). I think it’s cute.

Even though my dresser is distressed, I’m really not. I’m actually pretty excited to move, to live in a place permanently, since the last few years I’ve lived in the dorms at school, in the dorms in Florida, in someone else’s apartment for two months, and at my parents’ house while student teaching. I feel like I practically live in my car sometimes, because I bring so much stuff back and forth so frequently. I’ll be farther away from everyone I know, but it’ll be nice to try something new!