Mel's Box of Chocolates

This year, the school district where I teach, and where I send my children, is going to school uniforms. Before you ask, yes, it is a public school. Going back a little, our district has always had a dress code policy. You know, the whole pants on the waist, shorts/skirts to the knee, no inappropriate words or pictures on t-shirts, no hats in buildings, no pj's, no spaghetti straps or low cut tops for the girls, etc.  It basically just asked students, and their parents, to use common sense when choosing outfits to wear to school.  I thought it pretty much covered everything.  However, students still would come to school inappropriately dressed.  Go figure.  Some teachers would send students who were not following dress code policy to the office where it would then be up to the administration to contact parents, get new clothes, send them home, or do something to fix the problem.  More often than not though nothing would be done and the day went on. ...

So last week I told you how my broken zipper motivated change . This week I'm checking for week two weigh in. It's been a decent week. As far as My Fitness Pal...I'm liking it alot!  Tracked my food every.single.day. using the app for the most part so I could track right after eating.  I do find that tracking my food makes me much more conscious of things I put in my mouth.  I think about it before popping it in and later regretting it.  Found myself making much better choices this week including eating lots of fruits and veggies.  The exercising? I'm thrilled to say that I'm still going strong.  Just finished 30 Day Shred Day 10 today! I was really worried about going back to work on Wednesday because I had decided that I would exercise before school. I am NOT a morning person so this was a big concern.  However, I really wanted to try to get it done and out of the way so I didn't have to worry about it at night when I felt so tired.  I ...

One of the reasons I originally started blogging was to have a journal or scrapbook of sorts to record the memories.  I haven't quite had the words to describe everything that has been going on this week so thought I would jot them down more as a journal entry.    Tuesday, August 23 I'm busy preparing back to school goodies in the dining room.  Zoe and I are stuffing party bags to create "teacher survival kits" that I'll pass out the next day at our first inservice and Dave is sitting on the couch next to us.  Dylan comes in from the den and says, "What was that? The whole house just shook? What happened?"  We looked at him funny and asked what in the world he was talking about.  None of us in our great room felt a thing. I was even standing up! We basically told him that he was crazy and sent him back in to finish his computer game.  A few seconds later Dave talks to his dad who immediately asks him if he had felt the earthquake. Excuse ...

I have a confession to make. I have Tablet Envy!! Not IPad envy as I'm not an Apple person, but I've totally got Android Tablet envy. How cool is it that you can have the internet right at your fingertips and its the size of a hard back book?? Who would have thought?? This fall I'm teaching two college courses and we've already decided that the extra income is going straight into a savings to begin collecting for a new car that we are sure to need within the next year or so.  However, we are in need of an updated computer for me to work so we will be using some of the money to buy a new one.  Dave has replaced my hard drive, screen, keyboard, and completely wiped my current laptop out over the last few years and it is just plain getting old and worn out.  Currently the cd rom is kaput, the keyboard and touchpad goes wacky, and there is 0 battery life meaning it always has to be plugged in. It is time! At first, I was totally set to ditch the laptop and just go...

I know, I know it's supposed to be wordless , but I just had to put a disclaimer that no, we did NOT in fact buy a new car.  The awesome people at Chevy gave us the opportunity to take this beauty to Hershey Park, for their Chevy at Hershey event, a few weeks ago.  Oh my GOSH, was it FUN!  I love me a fast, sports car.  Functional for a mom?  Not exactly. But even mommybloggers have to have some fun now and again!! For more Wordless Wednesday pictures be sure to visit 5minutesformom .

Breaking the zipper on your shorts can be a great weight loss motivator. Trust me. Honestly, the shorts weren't that tight as they were a pair I bought earlier this season.  A pair that I bought in a bigger size because all the shorts I wore in previous summers were too small.  But considering that I've done nothing, but watch the scale go up pound by pound lately, a broken zipper was quite a slap in the face.  Last weekend I decided I had enough.  I was tired of my clothes not fitting. Looking in my closet and knowing I could only squeeze myself into some of the clothes that are in there.  I was tired of watching the scale slowly climb up, up, and up.  I was tired of feeling weak, lazy, and depressed.  I had worked so hard to loose those forty pounds a few years ago and here I am back up twenty.  ENOUGH! I thought about going back to Weight Watchers Online because that is how I did so well the first time, but to be honest I had tried the...

It always happens this time of year. I wake up in the middle of the night or in this case early in the morning thinking about school. Yesterday, I went in for some meetings and got a few minutes to just look around my room.  I'm in a new room this year.  A room that was one of my bestest friends who moved to another school in our district.  It's going to be different this year.  We had many people leave for a new school we just opened, some went to totally new districts, and some decided to stay home with their young ones. We have many new teachers coming aboard.  Some with teaching experience and some without. It's going to be different. But, I'm a firm believer that change is good. It keeps us on our toes. Yesterday, I made my first {of usually quite a few} back to school trips to the teacher store.  Did you know on average teachers spend between $400-$500 of their own  money for instructional and classroom supplies?  Anywho, my back to...

For more Wordless Wednesday pix don't forget to check out 5minutesformom .

The scene: 5th grade graduation, my students are walking across a red carpet to receive their promotion certificate, they are getting recognized for achievements. I'm announcing: " CJ , academic scholar for all three trimesters, member of band, Special Olympics participant, and student council member."  " MD , academic scholar for all three trimesters, winner of spelling bee, and student council member." " LN "  " CR , member of band, special olympics participant, and student council member." Every year during our 5th grade promotion ceremony we recognize the students who have went above and beyond.  They get announced for academic scholar all year, any school activity winners {geography bee, spelling bee, economics bee, etc}, participating in student council, being a band member, and perfect attendance. Not everybody gets recognized. It never fails though that every year as we are practicing the promotion and handing out certificates,...

Warning: I'm sure I'm gonna step on toes with this post, but the great thing about this being my own place to talk is that I get to say what I want. Right?! Most of you know that I'm an elementary teacher.  I've shared many times how I'm blessed because I have the best of both worlds.  I always knew I wanted a career. I'm just that kind of person. I enjoy working. I'm pretty driven and I like that teaching allows me to do something for just me. I'm not mom or wife when I'm teaching. I'm a professional, climbing a career ladder.  In the future, I know that I'll move on to become an assistant principal, and further down the road principal, and my dream way on down the road would be to teach in a college for pre-service teachers. Yeah. I have pretty clear cut long term goals.  But, the great thing about my profession is that it allows me to also put my kids first and be there when they need me. Both kids go to my school so they go to and leav...

When I was my kids age we had one phone attached to the kitchen wall.  I thought it was great when we got one of those looooonnnngggg curly, stretchy, cords so I could walk pretty much throughout our whole house talking on the phone.  Of course I could only use the phone if we weren't expecting a call {didn't want dad getting a busy signal when he called} or my mom wasn't talking on it. Limited access for sure. Then in my early teens we became a little more techie and we got a cordless phone.  WOW.  I could walk around the house or even outside. Without a cord. Who would have thought? When I was probably 12 or 13, I can remember my neighbor friend's parents getting a car phone.  NO WAY. Her dad worked for the phone company so he got a big ol' box, about the size of my dad's toolbox, that held a cellular phone to carry in his car.  There was this detachable antennae that stuck up a couple feet from the roof of his car so that the phone would work....

5M4M has always been top of my reader list as I find the twin sisters always have something interesting to share.  The other day they were talking about the reality of mommybloggers and wanted to know what our lives as busy moms-who-blog really look like . They posed the following questions: How do they do it all? When do they fit in time to blog? Do they view it as a full-time or part-time job or a hobby? Are their families and off-line friends supportive? Do they use daycare or other forms of childcare? I decided to answer some of these questions right here on my blog and then link up to share after I posted.  I just love it when other blogs stimulate my own fodder! So first up. How do I do it all? Easily.  I don't!  Unfortunately, I do at times try to do it all and often find myself completely overwhelmed, exhausted, and pretty grumpy.  But, truly I never do get to the point where I can do it all.  It's just not possible.  When do I f...