Today I took my final exit exam. I have officially taken the last test, read the last book, and written the last paper for National University. You’re done reading about how stressed I am about school!

Scotty is currently in his last class. He will be done in December and hopes to be done with his final project in January. I know it’s a big undertaking, but Scotty is very knowledgeable in the area that he is going to do his project on. We have no doubts!

Scotty is not as excited to be done with school as I am apparently. He is thinking, seriously thinking, about going on to get his PhD. I know this will make his mother happy because it will mean she has a doctor in the family! I am supporting whatever decision he makes- as long as work continues to foot the bill. I think him seeing me done with school and stress might rub off on him. I do know he is pretty motivated though, so he might just surprise me!

Moral of the Blog- Reach for the the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; it might take some time to arrive at the gold, but you’ll definitely learn something along the way.

Today was my first day, in 2.5 years, that I was able to go to work and come home and do… well, nothing! I have spent the past two-and-a-half years being a full time student working on a second teaching credential and my master’s degree. There were times when I wanted to just stop after the credential, but Scotty convinced me to stick with it. For two reasons, really: 1.) It’s only a matter of time before every teacher is going to be required to have a master’s degree (No Child Left Behind’s High Quality Teacher). In my opinion NCLB is debatable to say the least, but I think that soon enough we are going to be required to have a higher education. In the San Diego Unified School District they already require special ed teachers to have a masters. 2.) It means more money! I know it won’t be much, but any pay increase is a good thing, right? Now for the not-so-good news: time to pay student loans! I have 6 months of a grace period before that starts, but nonetheless it’s going to suck.

Moral of the Blog- Hard work almost always pays off!

This past week I have decided to make some choices in order to live a more healthy life. Scotty was out of town for a few days and I got creative. I decided to cut my nightly wine Monday through Friday and to cut Coke for good. The last time I cut Coke out of my daily diet was when I went to the dentist and I had five cavities and the dentist asked me “Do your teeth hurt?” I cut it cold turkey then and apparently this time I didn’t remember the god-awful headache the results! My last soft drink was over the weekend and I can say that I have had the most obnoxious headache for the past four days! It sits at the base of my neck and is a constant reminder that I am detoxing. I have exercised every day this week (Mon-Fri), had no Coke, and just had my first glass of wine at date night with Scotty. I think I did pretty well for the first week! I still have the headache so I at least know the withdrawls are from the Coke and not the wine!

Moral of the Blog- Being healthy hurts!

Well here we are… two years later! Today, September 22, 2009 is Scotty and my second wedding anniversary. Time sure seems to have flown by, but we have had some pretty awesome times along the way. My husband is my best friend and I can say that I truly found my better half.

Enough mush… my husband is not home to celebrate our anniversary! I had a Lean Quizzine for dinner and only a glass of ice water. Since Scotty is not home I am trying very hard to be good and not have any wine. I am on day two and I don’t have the shakes yet = success! He’ll be home tomorrow from his computer class so we’ll do a special dinner to celebrate this weekend.

Moral of the Blog- We are only a short distance on our journey through life, but so far the trip has been filled with wonderful memories and lots of laughs!

After a week off in Hawaii bliss I returned this morning to no lesson plans and a pile of student work to rummage through. Today was my first day teaching my exceptional group of children. I am a typical type A personality and appreciate over planning and dotted i’s and crossed t’s. This morning I knew I was coming in to students who were thrown into instruction with a substitute who although very competent and an awesome teacher, didn’t have much to go on from me. It’s always tricky when it comes to starting intervention groups for the year. My kids are feeling me out while I am feeling them out. They don’t always completely understand who I am because they keep asking me what grade I teach. My response of ‘every grade- kinders through fifth grade’ only confuses them so much more. I have real conversations with my fourth and fifth graders to let them know that their learning style requires they be more proactive and more involved in achieving an education. My younger kids just think I teach reading, which is probably fine! So anyway today they all showed up bright-eyed and eager to get things started. It’s funny how they remember me and we seemlessly just groove back into our routine as established last year! My students are so sweet and genuinely appreciate me for making learning a possibility.

Moral of the Blog- If your kids (or co-workers) run up to you upon your return to work, just wondering where you’ve been…. you’re doing something right! Mahalo