Mel's Box of Chocolates

Tonight as I was walking on the treadmill, I asked Zoe to go put on her pj's and brush her teeth. She didn't like this idea, but rather asked if she could go get a snack. When I told her no, this is what she had to say "Mommy, I'm a grown up and I can do anything I want!" Yes, I do have my hands full!! It is funny those kids perspectives...how I wish I could do anything I want!!!

The great thing about being a teacher is that we get to bribe motivate our students to behave and learn with popcorn and a movie. Plus with having twenty-some kids in the class it is a pretty safe bet that one or two will always have the latest kid movie on DVD so I don't have to go buy or rent them. However, this proved to be not so helpful recently. Right before spring break a student asked if he could bring in Alvin and the Chipmunks. Of course, I said, you can watch it with the substitute the day before break (since I started my spring break a day early!). When we got back from spring break they told me they hadn't watched it so I told them we could watch it for our next party. Well the big day rolled around so I put in the DVD, passed around the popcorn, poured the juice, and went to settle in for the movie. That's when the comments began... Student A: "Mrs. Tuttle , this looks different than when I saw it in the theatre." Teacher: Well this is a DVD and not...

I organized my photos, twittered, created some draft posts, caught up on my Google reader, and walked four miles. How did I do it you ask? Don't ya love my setup? Why yes, that is my ironing board. Finally, I found a good use for it!! Impressed aren't you? Now excuse me while I go soak my legs because they are burning after four miles!!

While on the soccer field this past Saturday, Zoe found a friend. She loves bugs, animals, reptiles, and everything else that creeps and crawls too. Maybe I have a future veternarian on my hands!

Why is it after I wear heels all day, my toes cramp all night??!! ======>>> I can wear the heels all day and they don't bother me at all. Of course once I get home they immediately come off because I am a barefoot kind of gal and then after about an hour I inevitably get some of the worse toe cramps ever. Does this happen to anybody else or am I proving I am just abnormal again?

Today was quite the day at school and to say my students were a bit crazy would be an understatement. Then again I am their teacher and here were my instructions this afternoon... "What you should be working on is written on the board. Remember you are to be finishing your reading assessment and then go to Mars ." Yes, I told my class that they were to go to Mars, as in the planet, in a very serious teacher like voice. Why? You ask. Well while I consider myself to be a great multitasker perhaps I'm not as great as I think. You see, this afternoon I had planned on having the students paint planets for our solar system bulletin board. So while the class was finishing their assessments I was trying to set out their planets, paint, and brushes. In order to give each group the correct color for their planet I consulted a website. While I was trying to give instructions to the class I was also trying to read the planets names and the colors...hence the instruction for the cla...

Conversations in the car on our way to school this morning. Zoe: "Mommy wouldn't it be cool if we were in an airplane in the clouds and saw a big beanstalk and castle" (Yes, we have been reading Jack and the Beanstalk as that is the theme of her ballet recital) Me: "That would be cool, Zoe. Maybe we could go inside and get some golden eggs from the magic hen." Dylan: "That would be impossible. A castle can't be in the sky because the gravity would make it stick to earth." Uh yeah, Dyl, thanks for killing the imagination of your little sis and mommy with the intelligence that you inherited from your father.

I have been on Weight Watchers for about a year and three months. As soon as I started the weight came off relatively easy. I must say I am a pretty stubborn person and once I get my mind on something I get it done. By the time summer vacation came around I was in the 150's and enjoying my new body. I didn't go hard core during the summer, but did still try to lose some. I think when I went back to school I was about 6 pounds lighter. Then I started again faithfully counting my points. In December I was around 148 and was beginning to get stuck in a rut. I decided to go ahead and let loose for the holidays hoping that when I began again in January my body would kind of be shocked back into losing mode. So I enjoyed my holidays and after Christmas had about 6 extra pounds to lose again. I hopped back on the bandwagon, but have to admit that since January I have only about 6 extra pounds. As soon as I get in the low 140's it is like my body stops losing. Since it has been do...

This week has been a loooong week and I still have one more day to go. It is funny too, because I thought it was going to be a relatively easy week considering I was only actually in my classroom for two days. Tuesday I had the chance to attend a Principal's meeting for a workshop. It was very informative and really kind of put a spark in my interest to become a principal. I greatly enjoy teaching right now and am content to be in the classroom, but I do see myself doing something else in the education field eventually. Maybe a principal or maybe something else. I know God will open some doors or windows when the time is right. Wednesday we had our big 3rd grade field trip to DC. More on that on a different post! It was a pretty relaxing day though considering all my kids had a parent or chaperone and I just meandered around the mall by myself. Then today I spent working with a committee on re-writing some assessments. We just adopted a brand new program, which I love, but their as...

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What do they all have in common? They were all part of this past weekend. My Satur day was filled doing this, but Saturday night I went out with my girlfriends to celebrate a birthday, which ended the day on a very relaxing note. We enjoyed a great dinner with lots of gossip and a couple bottles of wine. I am so blessed to have such a great group of girlfriends! Sunday is family day and this one consisted of lots of driving around. At least Zoe didn't mind since she got to hang out in her new car seat. Doesn't she look so big? My how time flies by. We drove around so much because Dave was trying to decide on this... Where I make decisions and consider it done, my hubby is the opposite and has a hard time making decisions. Then again his purchases tend to be a bit pricier than mine!! He had some birthday money and has been wanting a new grill so for the past few weeks he has went to the same stores, looked at the same grills, and still failed to make a decision. However, on Sun...

My sis-in-law just posted this picture on Facebook from her wedding last year. Don't we look like one happy family? However do notice daddy hanging onto Zoe as she didn't want to stay still! Good memories!

Week Two of my Project Home Organization!! This weekend I tackled the den/guest/office/play room. You know that room that catches just about everything. Well here is what it looked like before... This is what it looks like after... What left you ask? Well 2 bags of trash, one bag of books and stuffed animals went to school for a family night, plus one bag and some odds and ends were sent to the yard sale pile. Notice all the empty space. I feel so decluttered !! Now hopefully it will stay like this...for at least the next week!

Okay so this week was not as great as last week, which stinks because it seems like I am right back to where I was before. Stuck in the low 140's. It is like my body refuses to go into the 130's. This time though I am not going out without a fight. I bought myself one of these cool techie toys and am happy to report that I have been exercising faithfully. Sometimes I wonder if this is a double edged sword though because the more I work out, the more I gain muscle, which equals the more I weigh. I have also really cut back on the carbs in order to stay within my point goal. Instead of having a starch with dinner I have been trying to double up on veggies. Honestly, the week probably would have ended better except for the fact that I was so darn hungry on Saturday and then enjoyed a bit too much food and wine during girls night on Saturday. I take complete responsibility for my choices though and realize that my choices impacted my weight loss for the week. Oh well...it's ...

We have had some gorgeous weather here in Delaware. Last Friday has been the best so far with the temp in the mid 70's, bright sun, and that fresh spring air. It was way to nice to stay inside after school so when the kids and I got home we decided to go on a spring hunt. I grabbed my camera and Zoe grabbed hers...Dylan decided he needed a camera!! So I shared my with Dyl because I'm a nice mom like that. Here are some signs that spring has sprung! Can you find the robin above? She was protecting the eggs below. While we were out on our hunt this bright red cardinal came flying by. Oh how I wish I had a better zoom on my camera. Dylan did his best capturing it! Dylan took all of the pictures above. All I did was give them a little crop. He has quite a nice little eye don't ya think? A big shout out to Deb, our gardening neighbor, because not one of the pretty flowers was from our yard, but from her beautiful gardens!

After reading this at Homemaker Barbi's I found an incredible urge to add my 2 cents again . As a teacher, most people make the assumption that I am going to automatically say yes that kids should have homework every night and it must be completed and returned the next day. However, prepare to be shocked because this teacher isn't really all that impressed with homework. I will tell you why... First of all, we teach "kids", kids who need to sometimes just be kids. Today in school we are expecting so much from our students. It used to be that Kindergarten was where you went to adjust to the school day. You learned how to cut, color, play, and work on your letters and numbers here and there. Now our kids are expected to leave Kindergarten reading, able to write a story using connected sentences with correct ending punctuation, and adding and subtracting. All this "education" doesn't leave room for learning social skills, coloring, crafts, puppet shows a...

...and there are no tears here! I am off to girls night at a yummy Italian restaurant where they serve calamari and fresh pasta with blue crab and asparagus. My tummy is rumbling already. I am hanging out with five of the most beautiful girls ever. How I got included in the group is beyond me. So here I am all decked out and ready to go... Yes, jeans and a cute shirt does qualify as decked out!!!

I honestly didn't think I would ever see the end of this past week. As I lay here in bed with Dylan and Zoe playing next to me, with the sun streaming in the windows, listening to the birds sing outside my open windows I am perfectly content!! Not so with Zoe though as she woke up this morning at 7 saying, "Mommy the birds are tweeting everywhere and they are waking me up." I'm sure she'll adjust! I have a pretty busy weekend planned, but nothing really stressful. Today I am planning to tackle the catch all room. It is known as the playroom/office/guestroom and I have to admit *gulp* that when you see the before pictures they show how it looks probably 80% of the time! It is so bad that I don't even have my cleaning ladies who visit every other week go near it. Not anymore though...today we are getting rid of a lot of stuff and reorganizing what we have so that it will have a better chance of staying picked up. I am sure this room will probably make up half of...

Karen had this awesome post on her blog and it made me think. It is so easy for us to whine and complain about all the negative things that are happening in our lives that we completely miss out on all the things that we should be grateful for. So today I'm taking some time to STOP and enjoy things that mean so much... Some things I'm grateful for today... 1) Dylan came up to me and asked, "Mommy can I have a hug," then he said "No, a kiss is even better." 2) My husband has a stable job that he enjoys and that he takes the time from it to call just to see how my day is going. 3) There is a beautiful spring breeze blowing in the window and I have the time to just watch the curtains dance. 4) My milk was nice and cold when I shared a bowl of cereal with Zoe. 5) That I am healthy and strong enough to clean my house and take out 4 bags of trash! 6) I get to go out with a wonderful group of ladies tonight who I am proud to have as my best friends. True friendsh...

Flip Flop Mama posted the top 10 things that annoy her and then asked what annoyed me. So... 1) When I go through a drive thru to get a hot tea and then when I get to work and take a sip realize it is coffee, without sugar so completely undrinkable...TWICE 2) Blogs that require a word verification on comments because it always takes me more than once for them to realize I'm human 3) When two cars drive right next to each other going at or below the speed limit so speedy me cannot pass. 4) A writer's strike because I miss my Desperate Housewives, Brother's and Sister's, and LOST. 5) Whiny children. 6) Dogs barking when I'm trying to sleep...and yes it is usually my own dog. 7) Incompetency when competency is expected 8) Rude people 9) When I find the cutest clothing item and they don't have it in my size 10) Gray, rainy, cloudy, days...Need.Sun.Soon!

After seeing Arianne post pictures of her living room in it's "natural" state I decided to take the plunge and bear it all too. Of course, her living room mess is put to shame with what you are about to see. This is my first Tackle it Tuesday because other than my board's I haven't really been tackling anything. Now before you get too judgemental please consider... I am a working mom who hates to come home and clean believes that spending time with my kids is priority after a day at school I just finished my National Board's which consumed pretty much every night and weekends from January through March We had just returned from our vacation (trust me I didn't leave the house looking quite like this!) So over the weekend you may have read this and now it is time to share the fruits of my labor. BEFORE AFTER Now you know why I wrote this ! The great thing is that three days later my room looks just as good! Next week I will share the hallway and kid...