What A Morning!

I am now (unofficially) Mrs. Jenna Winter!  I still need to change my name, but I am really confused of where I should start.  I know I can research online how to do it, and I will, but right now i am exhausted!  Not because of my weekend... I had a good weekend!  But this morning has been tiring.  I woke up around 5:45, got my computer out of the office and brought it to the kitchen table.  I wanted to make sure I had it up and running by 6 am.  That is the time Kidd Kraddick's morning show normally starts.  I had no idea what time it would start today, but I wanted to be ready just in case with Kidd Nation streaming live.  I was heart-broken, like so many people in America were this weekend, when I heard that Kidd had passed away at his charity event.  His show has been a HUGE part of my morning life for the past almost 20 years.  I do not know what the future holds for the show, but I hope his legacy lives on through Kidd's Kids.  Turns out the live show was not starting until 7, but I got to listen to many sweet/sad/funny memories of past shows until then.  

Well... right before Chris and Laura left for work, I fell.  Bad.  I had gotten up to do who knows what, and when I went back to the kitchen table to sit down I somehow didn't lift my foot up high enough to step over the computer cord and totally tripped.  I went down so hard.  I landed on my left hip and elbow mostly, but I am sore ALL OVER right now!  Not to mention, when I tried to turn on the light over the kitchen table today I broke a chair!  I don't have to explain to anyone that knows me how short I am, so it probably wouldn't surprise you that I can't reach most light strings.  I stood on the chair like I normally do, and SNAP!  The chair leg broke!  

My day did get better, though.  It feels good to have a good cry every now and then, and that I did.  It was very sweet listening to all the stories of Kidd, and while he will be missed it sure does seem like he lived a full life!  I pray for his family- especially his daughter, Caroline, who you could tell had an extremely close relationship to her dad.  I also pray for his coworkers who spent a majority of their time with him that they will find peace during this time.  All I have to say is this- if you could lose weight from crying, I probably would have lost a good 5 or 6 pounds this morning!

Anyway... while I was listening I spent quite a while filling out some blitz cards and product catalogues with my information for my itWorks! business.  I plan on putting more effort into this business because I feel like I could be extremely successful with it if I just tried!  I wrote on 42 blitz cards (I wrote on the other 58 this weekend) and filled out 51 catalogues (I did about 30 of those this weekend) and I feel very accomplished!  I am writing my name, phone number, and website (http://jennawinter.myitworks.com) on each of these things.  That may not sound like a lot, but I promise you it is! My niece, Madilyn, is even walking around neighborhoods with me and leaving these cards on doorsteps to help me advertise my business.  I walked with her up and down this street in my neighborhood this past Saturday where she passed out 59 cards (woohoo).  I know many of these cards will just be thrown away, but if I could get any customers out of this it would be totally worth it!  It was so funny too... as we were walking Madi goes, "I just don't get it.  You are paying me $10 an hour to walk around with me and watch me walk up to front doors?!"  Well it sounds like I am being ripped off when she puts it that way, but I explained to her I am more-so paying her for her company because it would be really boring to walk around alone!  

After working on my itWorks! stuff, I downloaded all our honeymoon pictures. A big shout out "TY" to Chris' coworker, Mark, who gave us a sweet wedding gift of purchasing our honeymoon pictures.  We definitely couldn't have gotten so many beautiful pictures without his gift! After reviewing some of my wedding vendors online, I received a free shutterfly photo book!  So, after downloading the pictures, I set to work on the book.  I know I got it for free, but man!  It is a lot of work!  It took me like 2 hours to get everything the way I wanted, but it will be totally worth it.  Check it out here:  Honeymoon

Now that I have been on the computer for the past 5+ hours my eyes hurt!  I am going to take a nap, then set to work on coupons!  BTW... I will def put up some wedding pictures... just not sure when... I feel like my summer is almost over already!

My Best Friends Wedding

Oops... I wrote this FOREVER ago!  Nic and Ashley got married March 2!  I wrote this the next week... I guess it is time to post it!

Ok, so maybe not my best friend... But the title is definitely fitting! Nic and I go WAY back. We went to elementary school together, so I have known him since I was like 6. In seventh grade, he "asked me out". Kinda funny because we were 12! Where were we going to go? I actually told him I would think about it. I told him yes a couple days later. He was my middle school boyfriend, and part of high school. We remained friends even after we broke up. He was always there, always funny, and ALWAYS honest.  We kept in touch when we went away to different colleges, and even ended up working together a few years later! We were both first year teachers at the first school I worked at. My second year there, he actually worked in my classroom for part of the day as my inclusion support. Oh goodness, I couldn't have made it without him some of those days! It wa a tough group of kids! Great guy. We used to watch the movie "My Best Friends Wedding" together almost every weekend... So, therefore, the title is fitting!

He got married on March 2nd in Arkansas, and Chris and I were invited! We decided to go, booked a room at the hotel they had reserved rooms at, and looked up directions on google maps. They got married at Ouachita Baptist University. My sister Kim went there, so I had been there before maybe once but totally did not remember the drive. Chris made the drive out there... I take that back, Chris drove the entire weekend! I was extremely grateful that he drove because I was so tired! I have so much going on at school and I am wearing myself out, so I was in no shape to drive to long distances! I tend to get tired while driving. I know that is not a good thing, but it is what it is. The drive was easy- long but pretty, high speed limits! We left Saturday morning about 7-ish and got there around 12:30. When we checked into the resort (on Degray Lake, I think it is a state park or something... It is RIDICIOUSLY beautiful)  the lady said we could check in early to a regular room or wait until 4:00 to get a lakeside view. We decided to go ahead and check in so we could get ready in time for the wedding that started at 2:00. We got ready quickly and saw Nic's mom, Janet, on the way out. I was surprised she wasn't ready yet, but didn't think too much of it. We headed to Walmart to get a couple things we needed then headed straight to the wedding chapel, which was about 25 miles away from the resort. As we were about to pull up, I couldn't get the thought of the mother of the groom not being ready so close to the start of the wedding, so I pulled out the invitation. It didn't start until 4:00! We had two options, either head back to the resort, hang out 20 minutes, then go back to the wedding OR find somewhere local hang out until it was time. We chose option 2. We found a little sports bar near by to get something to eat and have a couple drinks. On the way back to the wedding, I was so tired I fell asleep in the car. The wedding was beautiful. I was shocked there were so many people there I knew! The drive to the reception was another 20 minutes away, and again I fell asleep in the car! Needless to say, I didn't make it very long at the reception... Which sucks because I would have liked to spend more time catching up with everyone, but I was exhausted. 

We got to sleep in Sunday then get ready for the long ride back. Overall, it was a good weekend. Makes me even more excited about my wedding! And to Nic and Ashley, Chris and I wish you nothing but the best!

I Forgot I Had a Blog!

No, really... I forgot.  I haven't made a post in SO long that I just forgot!  I remembered about a week ago, and I've been trying to figure out what to share with everyone ever since.

I have been SO busy.  I know what you are thinking... wedding planning, right?  Not at all!  I have so many other things I need to do that I don't have much time to worry about the wedding!  Hopefully I will get to that soon.  I honestly have so much going on that I have 3 seperate to do lists going on right now.  I will break the rest of my post down according to my to do lists!

Wedding:  I already said I haven't worried much about the wedding.  I feel like I have most of the important stuff picked out.  Except flowers.  I haven't made a decision on flowers.  But, I have the venue... we do need to decide on what kind of food we want though.  I have designed a cake, picked a place to do it, and paid for it.  I picked my dress out a while ago and it already came in!  It fits almost perfectly... as long as I can lose a couple inches on my back (yes... my back) I don't think I will need to get it altered.  I have gotten my gifts for all my bridesmaids, my flower girl and ring bearer.  I have started picking out stuff to use for center pieces.  Chris and I already registered.  That was so much fun!  More for me than Chris, though.  We have dates set for a couple of the showers.  Save the dates have been sent (shout out to Pam Leach who took us out for a cold morning of pics to get the perfect save the date!).  I guess I will start thinking about invitations soon.  We met with our DJ last weekend to start thinking of songs.  Honestly, everything that is left are small details.  It makes me feel overwhelmed when I think about ALL of the small things, but I will take it one day at a time and get it done.  June will be here before I know it!

Home:  I have an actual to do list for things I need to do that don't fit into the wedding category and aren't work related.  I have been in the process of getting more organized upstairs in the living room that I sort of use as a craft room.  Chris calls it a crap room because of all my stuff!  We are still making pickles from time to time, but we don't have to as much because we have a decent stash built up already made.  I really need to do my taxes.  I have put it off because I need to get a copy of my return from last year (its on a computer that doesn't work at the moment), and I need to figure out all of my itworks! stuff.  Speaking of itworks!... I want to put more effort into it because I found out they are offering the G.O.O.D bonus again.  That stands for get out of debt!  If I make it to a certain point (which I am far from) I can get a $10,000 bonus to go towards paying off debt!  What an awesome company!  I went to an old friend's house last night to wrap her.  I had a really good time.  It was actually my second time this week to see her.  My 10 year high school reunion is coming up this year.  So, the class officers got together to start planning, and she was one of them.  It was really good to see everyone... I laughed a lot!  And we went to I Fratelli, which I don't go to often, so I really enjoyed that.  Their chips and dip are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  I didn't think I would be planning my ten year reunion at the same time I was planning my wedding, but I also was voted class officer like 11 years ago!  I had no idea what I would be doing in 2013!  So, I got to see my friend, Lauren, again last night while I wrapped her.  I ended up staying longer than I meant to, which put me right in the middle of traffic (a SHUT DOWN highway) on my way home.  It made my trip home (which should have been 20 minutes) turn into a 2 hour trip!  I was so exhausted, I was almost falling asleep the whole way home!  I cried most of it too.  I just felt so helpless!  There was NOTHING I could do about the fact that I was traveling at 3 miles per hour! 

School:  This time of year is crazy busy!  I am getting ready for cheerleading tryouts right now.  Tryouts are next Wednesday.  We actually take every girl that tries out, but we still hold tryouts.  I am in the process of trying to get more girls to sign up!  We only have 4 that have turned in packets.  I am hoping for at least 12!  Wish me luck.  I also have taken on a HUGE task of filling in for our science department chair while she is out on maternity leave.  I was under the impression that all I was required to do was go to 2 district meetings that she would be unable to attend and bring back the info to the department. Saying I was wrong about that is an understatement!  I have had to miss a day and a half of school to go to trainings.  I have attended 4 meetings.  I had to plan out the planetarium field trip for the 8th graders.  I had to place our supply order for next year.  I am still in the process of getting the 8th grade teachers set on their station reviews for the STAAR test.  I was actually given a whole day off to work on this project.  It was greatly appreciated, but I still have a lot to do.  Next week is the last week of the 6 weeks, and I have a ton of kids failing.  That means I will have a ton of kids coming in to make up their grades.  I am helping out with Saturday School tomorrow for a teacher that is busy.  Oh well, at least I get paid for that!

Anyway, I'm going to do my best to make it through next week.  Hopefully I will get some sleep.  We are going to Arkansas for a good friends wedding next weekend.  Maybe I will get some ideas! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

It's Gonna Be A Good Year...

Oh wait!  It's gonna be a GREAT year!  So, I turned 28 a couple of weeks ago. It sounds SO OLD!  I know it's not... I know people live to be a lot older than 28, so it's relatively still quite young.  But to me, it sounds weird saying that I am TWENTY-EIGHT!  This year (not 2012, but my 28-year-old-year) I will be getting married.  It's getting so close I can feel it!  I will also be  buying my first house!  That is so exciting in itself.  All the responsibility that comes along with it makes me a little nervous, but I honestly think I am a pretty responsible person and I think I can handle it.  Chris and I still don't know 100% sure where we want to end up, but there are a few places that I know we would both be happy with.  I guess that is where we will start looking.  

We are going to Vegas this weekend!  Our good friends, Joel and Marie, are getting married this Saturday.  We knew they were getting married this winter but were somewhat surprised when we opened the invite and saw it was in Vegas!  We didn't even hesitate... went and booked our flight and hotel right then.  We are staying at Bally's.  It is going to be a blast... Expect a post next week.  You heard me, NEXT week.  I plan on trying to blog a little more often.  

Speaking of weddings... did I say how close mine is getting?!  I know I still have a little over 6 months, but I know it will fly by.  I am hoping to be able to get everything done and paid for that needs to be done and paid for in time.  I'm sure I will, I just need to devote some time to it a few times a week to sit down and make some decisions.  We haven't even made a final copy of our guest list yet!  We still have about 40 or so people too many invited!  Maybe I will revisit it tonight.  :)  Who am I kidding?  I won't.  I have too many other things I am trying to do.  One thing I really want to do is make some labels.  Laura and I make delicious pickles and candied jalapenos.  I have a lot of teachers that buy them for themselves, and some of them decided to purchase them and give them as Christmas gifts.  One of the teachers has asked me to create a label to put on them so that she can promote us and our "business".  It's more of a hobby.  It takes a lot of time, but it's fun and we have ended up making a decent amount of money.  I mean, it is going to pay for my wedding favors that I am handing out!  Well, we are kinda having some trouble coming up with a name for the pickles and jalapenos.  I think we have decided to call them "Double Dutch Pickles" because they were made (with love) by two Holland girls!  Isn't that cute?  But, to me that is more of a company name and not really a name for the pickles, you know?  Hopefully I will come up with something... I really need to print those labels!

I also have some crafting that I was hoping to start this week before I left for Vegas.  My sister Kim makes these AWESOME paper wreaths that are super cute for Christmas gifts.  I am planning on making them for my teacher friends!  Speaking of teacher friends, I need to go hang out with them in the hall because the bell is about to ring!  I love the end of the day!

Until next time...

I Did It Again...

... I got caught up in life and didn't take the time to write about it.  I feel like SO MUCH has happened but at the same time, I can't really think of any of it to share!  I can think of everything I plan on doing THIS week!  Why am I blogging at 8 am on a Monday morning? I'm not being bad and doing this during work time... I am off all week!  Oh the perks of being a teacher!  I am about to start cutting coupons, go figure... and then who knows what?  There are so many options.  My "To Do List" is 16 items long and still growing.  It will probably take a while to cut the coupons because I have quite a few to cut, then I will probably get started on a bunting to make for a friend.  I am having lunch this week with a friend from Middle School/Highschool and am so looking forward to it!  She is expecting and is pretty close (due sometime in January?) so I want to give her one of my "famous" buntings :) If I can coupon and do a bunting today before I go to my chiropractic appointment, I will feel accomplished! I decided to go see a chiropractor because I have always had a small continuous pain all through my back.  I pop my back on my own daily, and I thought I had a rib out of place.  (When I lay on my back, my left side looks normal but my right side has an indention)  Laura and I did a craft fair type thing at the Irving YMCA where she took her Mary Kay stuff and I took our homemade pickles and candied jalapenos.  It was SO cold but also a lot of fun.  Anyway... my booth was next to a booth offering free spinal checks.  I ended up talking to the girl, and she told me they were offering a deal to go see the chiropractor for an evaluation, get x-rays and a follow-up consultation for $20!  (Normally like a $400 value!)  I decided to go for it because I have been thinking about going lately anyway.  I'm really glad I did!  I have many subluxations (where the vertebrae are not laying right), my hips are misalligned by 6 mm, the curve in my lower back and neck are off by over an inch, and the bottom of my spine is totally crooked!  I started going for adjustments last week.  I will be going 3 times a week for 12 weeks, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what difference it actually makes!  And this office is totally cool because they do therapy along with the adjustments.  And, it is open concept... so it basically is a large room that everyone is in most of the time.  Everyone is so friendly... everyone talks to everyone, and it makes it fun!  If anyone is interested in getting checked out, you can use my name as a referral and get the whole thing I got for $20 for free! 

Off to start couponing!

Taking a Second To Brag a Little Bit...

This has just been SUCH a busy year!  I really didn't think that going from 6 periods to 8 (which makes them go from 65 minutes to 45) would make such a big difference at school this year, but IT DID!!!!!  At the beginning of the year I was so behind every day!  I had so many things on my to do list that grew daily!  I didn't think I would ever catch up... but I did!  I have actually had a really good year. 

I found out today that I was voted "Teacher of The Six Weeks"!  At my old school, we had teacher of the month, so there were 9 (or 10) teachers that were able to get that title each year.  I even got it once there.  But at my new school, they only do it once a 6 weeks, so only 6 teachers get that title.  It's really cool because it is the staff that votes on it, so I feel like it is an extremely nice award to receive.  I was voted for the 1st 6 Weeks!  It will be announced tomorrow. 

Today, I also got a really nice email.  Our instructional specialist (which is a relatively new position) goes to a lot of district meetings.  She was at one this morning.  When she got back she sent me an email saying that each of the specialists had to pick out some "Rockstar" teachers for specific categories.  She wanted to let me know that she gave my name for the "Rockstar" teacher... I think it was in the higher level questioning category?  I don't remember, but it was nice of her anyway!

Anyway... that put me in a good mood! 

I'm about to go eat dinner... smells yummy!

Holy Moly...

I can't believe I haven't posted since the start of school!  I have been SO BUSY! There is just always so much to do at the beginning of the year.  My "To Do" list is never-ending.  Every time I cross something off I add at least two more things!  And yes, a lot of the things on there aren't that important to get done immediately (like alphabetize the 140 lab safety contracts that were turned in and put them in a binder with the alphabet dividers or print the entire copy of the online textbook to have in a binder with all of the attachments separated by dividers) but my OCD self won't let me not do it.  I can't even let myself take it off the list for now to get the more important things done.  I JUST HAVE TO DO IT ALL!!!!!  I have been getting to the school by 6:30 and I have stayed late the past couple of days, but my list is still fills up the page.  You know how if you make a to do list you only use half of the page because most of the items are shortened?  I made my list and then turned the page upside-down to utilize the other half!  

BUT, even with all the things I have to do I have to say that I really have enjoyed the school year so far.  Last year was a rough group.  They had AT-TI-TUDES!  They didn't care about school, only their friends.  They were a pretty defiant group.  The other teachers couldn't believe how bad they were... but I had seen much worse behavior at my previous school.  Still, they were a rough group... no denying it!  I am loving my kids this year!  All the sixth grade teachers are loving them.  I have a few talkative classes, but overall, it is really nice!  I guess the trade off of having well-behaved kids is that they are pretty low.  I can tell a huge difference especially in my honors class.  I am surprised at some of the kids that are labeled as honors.  I am hoping they are just rusty from the summer :)  I have one boy... we'll call him "D"... that I'm going to have a rough year with.  He wasn't put in school until the 4th grade.  Then, on top of all of that, he was absent most of his 4th and 5th grade year.  He can't read.  He doesn't know how to socialize with kids his age.  He whines.  He is hard to understand.  It's sad, but more than anything it's annoying.  Why would a parent do that to their child?  They must love him so much they want him to live at home for the rest of his life because as of right now he wouldn't survive on his own.  

What I find kind of funny is what the 7th grade teachers have to say about our previous students.  Ok, not funny... but now they get to see what we dealt with.  The teachers literally had problems day one with kids saying stuff like, "You can't tell me what to do."  Oh boy... what a year they have in store.

I know I probably didn't mention even a tenth of the things I've done since my last blog, but I need to eat dinner so I can go to bed to get ready for tomorrow!