Who has holiday plans?

Ok, before I tell you all about my great holiday plans I have to get something off my chest. I know this is not a new or creative rant but it is oh so timely. I hate (yes, hate) that, as far as nearly every retail store is concerned, the Christmas season starts on November 1st.

Ugh.

Let me say that I may be especially sensitive to this obnoxiousness because I loathe busy shopping. Walmart on a Saturday afternoon? I go into survival mode. Sales brought on by 3-day weekends? I stay home. So, I do even less shopping this time of year than I would otherwise. But, oh, when I have to venture out. I cannot handle two whole months of Christmas music, tinsel and candy-striped everything. So much green and red and shiny. Let me take this opportunity to give a big sanity-saving shout out to Nordstrom. I ran across this on Buzzfeed. Yes, Nordstrom, yes. Exactly this.

I think it's crummy that we associate Christmas so closely with buying crap. Do any of us really need more stuff? I understand that giving gifts is a great thing to do, though. It's fun to pick out the perfect gift for someone you care about and it's fun to find out that someone cared enough to spend time finding you something awesome. But, let's not lose our heads, ok? I am going to try really hard this holiday season to keep in mind that the important part is hanging out with my and Boyfriend's family, listening to the Peanut's Christmas CD until my parents beg for mercy and eating some yummy food.

Rant complete. Thanks for hanging in there.

Thanksgiving is this coming week! Hooray! Let's celebrate taking over our country by bullying the people who already lived here into submission! I'm just a little rain cloud of a thing today, no? Sorry about that. Regardless of the questionable origins, I dig Thanksgiving. Getting together with family and eating is one of my very favorite pastimes. This year, Boyfriend and I will be headed to Michigan with my family to visit aunts, uncles and cousins. This is fantastic for a couple of reasons.

1. I don't see my extended family all that often as we're scattered all over the country.
2. Boyfriend has never been to Michigan!
3. I live eight hours away from my parents and brother so, I'm actually looking forward to spending some time in the car with them.

Brother has to survive the trip from KC to Indiana with my parents. Hopefully that won't be too painful for him. They're headed this way on Tuesday! Yikes, my house needs to look a great deal different (read: something resembling clean) than it does now!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

I've got some fun ideas for the coming (yes, that's right, it hasn't started yet) holiday season. 

How do I know if I'm a screw up or not?

Lately, I feel a little bit Jekyll and Hyde. On one hand I really feel like I'm getting my act together what with having a job I like and actively applying to graduate school and whatnot. On the other hand though, I am a twenty-five-year-old studying for the Praxis. This is the standardized test for prospective teachers, most often taken at the end of your undergraduate studies. I am soooo not looking forward to taking that test in a few weeks with what I assume will be a room full of cute, confident, newly twenty-two-year olds with perfect hair.

I'll rush in still dressed from work, having been up since 6am, boyfriend and pup at home wondering why their dinner isn't making itself. I jest, Boyfriend is a better and more frequent cook than I. Arley? I will never live up to her standards of care. Anyone looking for a full-time belly rubbing gig? It doesn't pay and your client has dog breath. Takers? No? If you change your mind you know where to find me.

So, my week will be full of relearning geometry formulas and the proper use of semi-colons. There's a Halloween costume that needs finishing, too. Boyfriend and I are part of a group costume with his cohort at school. We're all going as different characters from Pac-Man. I'm going as a strawberry and Boyfriend is going to be one of the ghosts despite my suggestion that he be a big, white dot. What? It's a great idea! Whatever.

Halloween plans? Long lists of unpleasant things to accomplish? Needy dog at home?

Have you seen this? A series is born.

I'd like to take this moment to tell you about something I hope to make into a series right here. I'm calling it Exceptionally Awesome Kids of Exceptional Awesomeness. It's a working title.

This project combines so many things that I love- kids caring about a global issue, food and travel.
I can't even remember how I happened upon this blog initially but I continue to be impressed (or amused, or moved to tears, or fascinated) by it's content. Never Seconds is a food blog of sorts started by a girl with help from her dad. She took pictures of her lunches to bring attention to the reality of school lunches- sometimes too small, sometimes not very healthy, sometimes quite good. This evolved into featuring school lunches from around the world all while raising money for charity. If you're interested in cool things kids do, real food from the farthest flung places or simply a great project check it out.


The wonderful people at Never Seconds haven't a clue who I am. These options are my own.

What am I doing?

Are you curious what I do all day-besides, of course sporadically post to my blog? Interested or not I've decided to tell you. I am a teaching assistant at an elementary school. This is the first step in my grand plan to get my Master's degree in Education and become Super Teacher- complete with special powers like mischief-destroying stare and hilarious story time voice!

photo credit

Yeah, sort of like that.

Aaaaaanyway, I spend my days bouncing around to different classrooms where there are children who have been identified "special needs". At my school that means primarily behavior and attention problems. Sometimes I work just with the identified children in a small group and other times I work with a variety of kids, allowing the classroom teacher to give more individualized attention across the board. I work in kindergarten through third grade classrooms leading math and reading groups, assisting with special projects or simply helping students stay on tasks during independent assignments.

I love my job. Before moving to Indiana I worked in a retail store and while there were aspects of the job I enjoyed, it was stressful and completely unfulfilling. Working in classrooms is, for me, ideal. Yes, it's stressful and sometimes I wonder if I've ever done anything helpful. I have to get up crazy-early, there's no coffee shop in the lobby or even around the block, kids sneeze on me and say bratty things, ask me questions and don't listen to the answer. But more often than not I am on the front lines of a battlefield fighting for a cause I believe in with my whole heart.

You'll be hearing more about my adventures in elementary school, I'm certain. Stay tuned!