Currently for August

I know that I am a little late for Currently this month, but late is better than never!  Thanks Farley!

Not much to explain with this one.

I am terrible at reciprocating play dates because I feel like my house is always too messy.  I decided to let that be the motivation to have my oldest help me clean, if she wants her friends over.  After all, most of it is her mess!

I know I'm not the only who feels like August hit them like a freight train.  Hoping to make it to the pool a couple of more times before school start for me on the 17th.

My B2S RAK is to put notes in mailboxes.  During those tough times of year, testing which is always  conferences, Curriculum Night, etc, that little reminder of why we do what we do can get us through.  Spread the inspiration!

Currently - March

First post of 2015!  I am amazed myself that it has been so long since I have last posted!  I am really pumped that I am not going to be in the last 300's of Farley's Currently this month.  Seriously jazzed about that!

Listening

Christina Perri is fast becoming one of my new favorites!  I could listen to her voice all day.  It is very soothing.

Loving

I gave a presentation on Friday for our district about reading anecdotal notes.  I haven't given a presentation outside of my school in a while.  It went well!  It is a big relief to have it behind me!!

Thinking

I am some plans and drafts of future posts, and it feels so good to get back to this little ole' blog.  I have good reasons for being gone so long, but I truly miss it when I am absent from it!

Wanting

I love in the burbs of Chicago - need I say more?

Needing

Umm ....., no it is not Fifty Shades of Grey (been there done that with the whole trilogy - more than once), it is a different series that is similar.  It's such a train wreck, and I ask myself why can't I stop reading this!?!  There are so many other wonderful books worth your time, Amy!  You are better than this!

Spring Break Plans

Nothing in the works now.  I think a "staycation" is just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks Farley, for hosting this every month!  Now go link up!

December Currently

I know that it has been a while since I have blogged.  No excuses, just really busy.  I could give you a screen shot of my October and November calendar, but I think it would leave you hyperventilating into a paper bag (which is how I spent much of October and November)!

A nice way to ease back into blogging is to link up with Farley for December Currently.

Listening

I love this station the most on my Pandora!  It gives me Adele, the Pitch Perfect soundtrack, and my other eclectic music loves.

Loving

I don't care how busy I am, I am taking more time to read for pleasure!  I recently finished Mockingjay for the second time so I was all set for the movie.

Thinking

A week off gave me lots of time to organize the next three weeks.  I really thought about how to plan out everything that I needed to do.  Okay, so I didn't do the one load of laundry, but I swear everything else got done!

Wanting

I bought lights but they were the really bright LED lights.  I don't know about you, but they are blinding!  I like soft warm lights.  I exchanged them, but haven't put the new set on yet.

Needing

My youngest turns 8 on December 7th (a date which will live in infamy).  I get so caught up in planning for the holiday, that her birthday always sneaks up on me!

Giving

My oldest daughter has decided to give up birthday presents the last two years in favor of having her friends bring new pajamas which will be donated.  The girl has collected about 40-50 pairs of pj's.  She plans to donate them to The Pajama Program.  You can read about the organization here.  So proud of her!

Don't forget about the TpT Cyber Sale!  I finally broke down and bought the license for all of the KG fonts.  I plan on using the credits from that to pick up some other goodies!

February Currently

I know what you are thinking, "What is she doing?  She is going to be the very last person to link up for 'Currently' this month.  What's the point?"  I know that this is assuring myself a spot in the Slacker Hall of Fame, but late is better than never.  Who knows, maybe I wanted to be the last person to link up (can't say I don't have goals).

Listening

I like listening to books on tape, CD, playaway or whatever.  Let's face it, it doesn't matter what age we are, we still love to be read to.  I have always been a fan of Dean Koontz.  Lightning was one of my absolute favorites by him.  I download most of the books on my phone from the local library and listen to them on my commute or while up in my new office (more on that).

Loving

We have a 4 bedroom house.  Each of the girls have their own room, our room, and then a guest room.  The guest room used to have a queen size bed in it.  It was always my hot spot for dumping things.  More and more, anyone who visits us is a singleton, so why the need for the double bed?  Enter my wonderful mom who suggested I put in a day bed and make the rest of the room my office.  She. Is. Brilliant!  I don't have any before pictures, but here are some afters.  I am not done (walls need more color), but you get the idea.

Thinking

We have 2 more weeks of our school wide Fountas and Pinnell testing.  I feel like I am drowning in data.........in a good way.

Wanting

Don't think I need to comment!

Needing

Love having Lilah around.  She is really starting to settle in, she's getting used to her crate, and knock on wood, we have not had an accident in the house in a month.  HOWEVER, I am having a problem with all of the dog hair on my dress clothes.  I use the little rolls of tape on a handle (don't know what they are called), but it is not good enough.  Her hair is short and coarse, so it really grabs a hold of my dress clothes and won't let go.  Any ideas are welcome!

2 Truths and a Fib

Yes, I could do the limbo on roller skates. I am not sure what the current world record is, but my best was

8 inches.  I looked a lot like this:

I do have an aunt named Betty Crocker!

The last is the fib.  I did enter the Miss Macomb pageant while in college.  Most embarrassing moment of my life was when they called my contestant number as the winner, but someone else's name.  For a whole 2 minutes I shared the title with the other girls until the judges confirmed it was not me who won, it was her.  I like to think of those moments as character building.  I built A LOT of character that day! :)

Thanks for reading!

Currently

It is 9:30 here in the Midwest, and the eternal question on every school-age child (and teacher alike) is:  Will there be school on Monday due to the extreme, seriously cold temperature coming that day.  The high will be -13 degrees!  I know that somewhere in the world it is colder, but man!

I am linking up with Farley for this month's Currently.

I must comment on the first one.  Listening.  My little one listened to the Frozen soundtrack ALL DAY TODAY.  The whole time she was practicing a performance that she lured her older sister into, and then performed for the hubs and I later in the evening.  The songs are so catchy, and I have been a fan of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel for a long time.

Have a great rest of your Saturday and keep your fingers crossed for me and others for a Cold Day on Monday!

Currently

I look forward each month to linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade.  This always helps me take stock, and reminds me of what is important.

Listening  When I first started this post, the little one (who will be 7 on Saturday) was in her room singing when she was supposed to be sleeping.  Her songs are made up and tend to go on and on and on and on ... The hubs and I like to think of them as mini operas.  I know that she is content and happy when I hear her singing.  I love these moments and I know I will miss them as she grows older!

Loving  I have recently taken more time to read books that are on my list for pleasure.  I started reading Alligient by Veronica Roth, the third book in the series.  I stopped and started reading the first in the series again Divergent, because I didn't want to miss anything in the third book.  I am loving going back and re-discovering it again.  I seriously could not put it down the first time!  Try it!

Thinking  I am a last minute shopper.  Who am I kidding, I am a last minute everything!  I have a good portion of my shopping done this year (thank you Amazon)!  I seriously love getting the one gift that you know they (whoever they may be) love.  Such a great feeling!

Wanting  Okay, after re-reading what I said above, even I threw up in my mouth a little bit. :)  There are always those few kiddos who just kind of creep into your heart and camp out.  And it is not always the ones that you think it is going to be.  Some of them have so much in their world that is already against them, I feel the need to arm them with knowledge and a whole lot of TLC.

Needing  I know that I am not alone in my feelings of being overwhelmed.  I find it interesting that as I read the posts from my blogging friends, that many of them say the same thing.  It doesn't matter where they are teaching - from coast to coast, there is a lot going on in the world of education.  Teachers have a lot on their plates!  Nough' said!  Take it day by day!

Favorite Tradition  Every year, my daughters and I decorate our tree.  I worked at a Hallmark store from age 16 all the way through college.  I saved up on the cute Hallmark ornaments that I liked (thank you employee discount).  Now my girls have added their own that they have made from their classroom and Girl Scout days.  We watch Christmas movies (last couple of years it has been Elf and The Polar Express) and eat popcorn.  My grandma always made her popcorn over the stove with lots of butter and salt.  I make it just like she did!  The hubs usually comes in about half way through and tells us the spots we have missed!  Gotta love that!

I have loved reading my blogging friends posts this month and learning about their favorite traditions!  Thanks Farley!

November Currently

Thanks to the wonderful Super Sleuths Blog Hop, I have been getting back into my blogging groove (insert 70's music here).  Now, that I have my groove back, I need to get in some good content!  That will have to wait, because I feel the need to take stock and see what I look at what I am doing "Currently."  I am just hoping I am not like #400 on the link-up list!  Thanks to Farley for this great Linky!

Listening - This time change always takes me a few weeks to get adjusted.  I loved having the extra hour, but I feel like I am going to pay for it in the morning!

Loving - I absolutely love watching my girls in their activities.  We try to do only do one activity at a time.  For my oldest, it was softball.  Her fall season wrapped up a week ago.  They played a division up, so they were 3rd and 4th grade girls playing against 5th and 6th grade girls.  Their record had them in 3rd place at the end of the season.  For the tournament, they must not have liked that placement, because the girls went out there and won the whole darn thing!  First place in the tournament!  My youngest finished up her last football game that she cheered at on the same day as my oldest's softball tournament (always happens that way right)?  Then past two weekends, they have been competing for a chance to go to the state competition.  They did an amazing job!  Sadly, they did not accumulate enough points to make it to the state level.  To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was happy or sad about that!

Thinking - Yes, we are thinking about getting a dog.  We put our last dog down when my youngest was 3 months old.  (she will soon be turning 7)!  He was a golden retriever named Jake, and I fear I may not love another dog as much as I loved him.  I am sure I probably thought this about having a second child too.  Anyhoo, we are ready to try again.  We are looking to adopt, but taking our time looking.

Wanting - Today, I did it!  I have been thinking and eyeing personal laminators pretty much all summer long.  I bit the bullet and bought one today.  I love it!!!

Needing - I haven't gotten my hair cut since about last May.  My beauty lady (that's what I call her) will think I feel off the face of the Earth!  I have this natural curl that drives me crazy, and if I don't get it cut on a regular basis it loses its style.  Maybe now I'll have time with the girls having no activities!

A Yummy Pin - You know winter is coming when you have made your first batch of chili.  I made mine this week, and I tend to make a lot more soups in the winter.  One of my favorites is this recipe for Lemon Chicken Rice Soup.  It is delicious, but you have to double or even triple the recipe if you want any leftovers.  It is the best one I have found!  Click the picture to take you to the site.  You have to scroll down about 6 or 7 soups, but the recipe is there.  It is wonderful!

A Lot of Nothing

Wow, to say that I have been busy would be an understatement!  I can really understand how hard it is to get back into things full time and then also find time to do something other than sit in a corner and rock back and forth!

Monday
Kewanee was a blast, and I even managed to get a few things done on Labor Day!
Tuesday
Tuesday found me after school was over with the following routine:
1.  Pick up youngest from after care.
2.  Take youngest to Religious Ed.
3.  Pick up oldest from after care (couldn't pick her up earlier because she has running club)
4.  Get oldest dinner at Jimmy John's.
5.  Oldest eat dinner and start on homework.
6.  Pick up youngest from RE.
7.  Take youngest to cheer leading.
8.  Take oldest to softball.
9.  Pick up youngest from cheer leading.
10.  Get youngest dinner.
11.  Youngest homework and ready for bed.
12.  Pick up oldest from softball.
13.  Help oldest with homework and put both to bed.
14.  OH YEAH, don't forget to prepare for the presentation that you are giving to your staff in the morning (with the copy machine being broken before I left so I couldn't make copies)!

Now you may understand the whole sitting in a corner, drooling, and rocking back and forth (forgot to mention the drooling)!  Luckily, I have a great husband who does more than his part running the kids from here to there.  We don't believe in overextending our kids, but it seemed that Tuesday was the day that worked for everything!

Wednesday
The presentation went well, and I spent the rest of the day assessing students in grades 4 and 5 on the Benchmark Assessment System from Fountas and Pinnell, and then 1st grade students on our district 227 sight words.

Thursday
Thursday was our Benchmarking Day.  We use this day to "sweep" the whole school by doing various assessments.  Grades 2-5 did a fluency assessment from Aimsweb, 1st grade did a letter sounds assessment from Aimsweb, and Kindergarten did various assessments from Aimsweb and ISEL (Illinois Snapshot of Early Literacy).  It took all day, but it is wonderful getting all of that data on students.  That means I am one step closer to finally knowing my caseload so I can finally start working with my little ones!  Had dinner that night with my fantastic group of lady friends.  They seriously keep me going and make me laugh all the time.  Just wish we could get together more often (some have worse schedules than I do)!

Friday
I spent Friday making up students that were either absent on Thursday or we skipped for some reason or another.  After school, I volunteered at my daughters' school for their Fun Fair.  I was only supposed to stay from 6:30 - 7:15.  I finally got home at 8:45!  Totally for a good cause and my girls had fun!

Saturday
Softball game for my oldest and Septemberfest parade for my youngest.  Seriously can't wait until we can do something together as a family again!  Also, sorry to say I watched Notre Dame lose to Michigan.  Great game though!

Today
Ahhhh, caught up (just a little, you don't even want to see my laundry pile)!

So I am taking a moment to be in the moment and think about what I am doing Currently.

Pretty self-explanatory.  Thanks to Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this great linky.  This monthly self-check helps keep me "in the moment" which was one of my back to school goals!

Have a great week all!