Weeks in Review

 And just like that, another three weeks have gone by since I last did a week review.  At least I'm consistent?

 So, what have I been up to in the last 3 weeks? To be honest, not a whole lot! I said I had plans to clean and while I had the ambition, I didn't have the motivation. I did get a few rooms a lot cleaner and laundry did get done, so it wasn't a total loss. I even braved the heat and humidity to do some weeding.

I did work on some of my hobby projects, which was nice. After all, I was technically on vacation, so fun and relaxing were in order. And I worked pretty hard this summer, so I'm not feeling too guilty about not being as productive.

My grandma had her birthday a couple weeks ago, so my mom and I took her to lunch at a local Amish style restaurant. They have a lunch buffet that I love. I definitely ate well that day!

School started last week and I'm already working. My scheduler called on the first day of school to start offering jobs. I predict I'll be busy this year which makes me very happy!

How was your week?

Weeks in Review

I can't believe that six weeks have flown by and now camp is over for the summer. We had a fun-filled 3 weeks since I last updated.

We continued to work hard on our talent show routine and ended up winning the talent show. I'm really proud of our kids for pulling that off. They did a great job!

We took a couple trips to the local spray park and visited the beach again. We had a water day with water games and had a big water balloon fight. We did more fun crafts and games and just generally had a lot of fun.

I'm really going to miss spending time with my campers. As I was saying goodbye on the last day, I found myself having to hold back some tears. It was a great summer and I'm looking forward to next year.

Last weekend was our nieces' last weekend in town, so we took a big family trip up to Binder Park Zoo. I'll share some pictures and more details about that in a separate post.

The fair was last week and we went on Sunday with our oldest nephew and niece. I'll post about that as well.

Our usual Sunday Mass was special this week because our parochial vicar was installed as pastor. This Bishop came and did a special rite during the mass. It was the first time I've been to a Mass celebrated by our current Bishop. (He's been our Bishop for 4 years.) I was even lucky enough to receive communion from him.

Our new pastor's brother is also a priest, so he came to celebrate Mass with him in addition to our new parochial vicar. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we had 3 priests and a Bishop at the altar. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere.

Now that I'm off work for a little while, I've got plans to do some cleaning and work on a few hobby projects I've started.

How was your week?

Weeks in Review

 I've been seriously slacking on my weekly reviews, so I'd thought I'd catch you up on what I've been up to lately.

Camp is half over already and I'm a bit sad about that. The weeks have flown by and it feels like the next 3 weeks will as well. My group of little kids is great and I'm going to miss them. My coworkers this year are great too.

We've had a very busy 3 weeks. We've been to the local pool twice, we went roller skating and bowling, and we've visited the local municipal airport. The airport was a lot of fun. We saw lots of airplanes and even got to go up in the control tower.

On Thursday, we went to the local beach for our annual sand building contest. It was a cool day, but the kids still had a lot of fun.

We've also been doing lots of crafts and playing lots of games. Additionally, we've been practicing our talent show routine. It's going really well and I think we've got a good chance of winning this year. And of course, the kids are having a blast which is the most important part.

My younger nieces are down from Wisconsin and we had dinner with them on Thursday. We watched Monsters University and Frozen.

Since I had Friday off from work, my mom and I went antiquing. Sadly, I didn't find anything interesting to buy. We did hit up Five Guys for lunch. We haven't been there in over a year and it was absolutely delicious.

We spent the weekend quietly at home mostly, although we did hang out with M's family after Mass on Saturday night since his nephew was there. I did some preparing for camp this week. It's sure to be a busy, but fun week.


 

Week in Review

I can't believe it's already June! School will be over on Wednesday and then it'll be time to start planning for day camp.

Last week we had Monday off from school for Memorial Day which was a welcome break. The scheduler didn't call to ask me to work on Tuesday, so I ended up with a 4-day weekend. That was very much appreciated after the craziness of the past few weeks.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I worked half days in 3rd grade. It was different classes at different schools and very different experiences. On Friday, I had to work a full day in a kindergarten class. We had a pretty good day considering it was Friday and the kids are antsy to be done with school.

I'm only scheduled to work Monday this week and then I'm pretty sure I'm done. Last year, she did call to ask me to work the 2nd to last day of school, but even if that does happen, I think I'm done. I'm ready. Plus, we're supposed to have field day today, so I'm sure I'll be ready to be done.

In other news, my day camp boss finally called and left me a message about the meeting. But confusingly, she acted like I already knew about it and just wanted to verify that it was a different time. Also, it's on a Monday and last year we met on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm going to assume it's Monday and Tuesday and she just thought I knew that already.

We still haven't decided what to do for our anniversary. We might go to Cincinnati and use our free night at a hotel that I won last year. That expires in July and it seems like a waste not to use it. We'd probably just go to the zoo and hit up Ikea.

My laptop finally broke last week. The hinges have been breaking for a while and they finally gave up. So I gave up my Amazon credit that I've been saving for a few years for a DSLR camera and ordered a new laptop.

My big excitement this past week was that one of my peony bushes actually bloomed this year! I have 4 blooms on this bush. Sadly, none of my others are going to bloom this year. Peonies are my favorite flower, but I hate how finicky they are about blooming.

How was your week?

 

Week in Review

I hope everybody had an enjoyable holiday weekend (if that applies to you) and if you had to work, I'm sorry. I've been there before!

Even though there are only 2 weeks of school left, work has been very busy. I've been working pretty much every day this month, which is great for our finances going into summer.

Last week was all about kindergarten and 2nd grade. I was very excited to get to teach one of my favorite kindergarten classes one last time. They're a sweet bunch and I'm going to miss them. 

The summer job is coming along nicely, I guess. My paperwork is processed and I'll be officially hired next week. My director has never gotten back to me about my placement, so I'm assuming I'm still at last year's park with the older kids. I guess we'll see what happens. I just go with the flow. She also hasn't scheduled our training meetings due to some staffing issues. This wouldn't bother me, but I'm trying to plan a little getaway for our anniversary the same week we'll have training.

This weekend, we mostly focused on getting some things done around the house. Saturday was beautiful, so we headed outside to take care of some yard work. Weeding my flowerbeds isn't the most fun, but enjoying the sunshine did help. All of my flowers are planted and I'm enjoying the blooms. Crossing my fingers that all my plants stay alive this year!

On Monday, my mom and I went to the local flea market. It was hot and crowded, but I got some things I've been waiting to buy there. We had a good day together shopping and catching up.

How was your week?


 

Week In Review

Work

Things got a little quiet around here thanks to my new, very busy work schedule. Last week was our first week back from spring break and our first week of extended school days. We added an hour to every day to help make up snow days. Some days, I don't really notice the extra time and some days, it just seems to drag on.

I worked every day last week and between the longer days and getting up earlier, in addition to my at home duties, I was exhausted each day. I'm working at going to bed at reasonable times as well as packing my lunch the night before and picking out my clothes.

Life

At the last minute, it was decided that we would be hosting Easter at our house this year. This meant a few days of frantic cleaning and organizing, in addition to grocery shopping and food preparing. Luckily, we didn't have school on Friday.

M and I went to the Passion service on Good Friday for the first time this year. It was a very moving service, but longer than I thought it would be.

We hosted M's family on Sunday. It was a good day of eating and playing games. And I finally got to eat some chocolate and have a Coke (or two.) Now that I can have chocolate again, I'm back to eat ALL the chocolate! I have no willpower. I even went and bought some clearance Easter candy.

I'm working every day again this week, so we'll see if I manage to post again soon. Wish me luck!

Week in Review

Work

Last week was Spring Break, so I was off all week. It was great to have a break from work. My scheduler did call twice to give me jobs and now I'm booked solid for the next two weeks.

Life

I had big plans for Spring Break. I was going to start spring cleaning. It didn't really happen. Oh well.

Thursday, I took my annual trip to the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale, which you can read about here.

Since Trish was down from Minnesota, we got together with some friends on Saturday. It was a good day of food and playing with babies. I baked snickerdoodle cupcakes and they were amazing!

On Sunday, I decided to do something productive and washed all the outside windows that I could reach. Now, I can't wait to do the rest of the windows, so we can have clear views again. We had nice spring weather, so we had the windows open. Too bad it will be down to the 30s again this week!

 How was your week?

 

Week in Review

Work

Last week was the week before Spring Break, so I didn't really think I'd work much. I did end up doing 2 half days. One day was in kindergarten and one day was 2nd grade. Since it was the week before Spring Break, the kids were squirrely and I think everybody was ready for a week away.

Because we have missed so many days of school thanks to the polar vortex, we have many days to make up. The state said that schools could add an hour to the day and every six days would equal one day made up. As a result, we will be adding one hour to every day after spring break until school gets out in June. This will allow us to get out on June 4 instead of June 11.

It is going to be interesting going to school for 8 hours. We're starting a little earlier and ending a little later. I'm sure we'll all need some adjustment time. Luckily, the school did agree to pay subs more, so it's worth it for me. And I'm already booked for the next 2 weeks of school with full days, every day. It's going to be interesting for sure!

Life

I've been preparing for the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale. My day to shop is tomorrow and I'm so excited! I'll be sure to post about my experience on Friday.

Lent is still going well. I'd be lying if I said I don't miss chocolate though. I made a batch of Rice Krispies treats over the weekend and they are not going to last long. I have no willpower with those things!

I'm also fighting off a little spring cold. I'm sure I have the munchkins to thank for that. I'm sure my allergies will be kicking in soon now that spring weather is here.

How was your week?
 

Week in Review

Work

Work has been very good lately. I've been working nearly every day. In fact, in March, I worked every day we had school except for 3 days. The previous week, I only did kindergarten all week which was really fun. Last week, I had 1st grade, 3rd grade, and kindergarten.

I had the kindergarten class for 2 days and they were pretty cute. We had indoor recess thanks to rainy weather and while they were playing with Playdough, some of them started singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" They really love Frozen.

This week is the last week before spring break and so far, I'm not scheduled. I'm hoping to at least get a couple days, but since we have vacation next week, I probably won't get much. After spring break, my schedule is filling up. I already have 7 days scheduled in April and I anticipate that it will continue to fill since we're getting to the end of the year. There are lots of meetings and trainings that need to happen before the school year ends.

Life

Life has been pretty quiet lately. I'm happy that the snow is finally melting and spring weather appears to be on its way.

We finally watched White House Down over the weekend. It was actually a pretty good movie. Our nephew came down and stayed with us, which means we stayed up late playing Civ 4. We're nerds. I also made the guys watch This Means War and my husband even admitted it was entertaining.

We're halfway through Lent and my sacrifices are still going strong. It's been tough to pass on chocolate this year and I really miss being able to order a pizza when dinner plans don't go they way I want.

I was also really productive this weekend working on some Vera Bradley Outlet Sale related posts for the blog, so be sure to come back later this week to check those out.

How was your week?

 

Week in Review

Work

Last week was an awesome week for work. We had school for 5 days straight for the second week in a row and we even had outside recess twice. Winter might finally be on it's way out. (Ha! We're getting snow again this week, so I'm not holding my breath.) The really great part was that I actually worked every day. It was a tiring week, but the paycheck will be great. I taught Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade, which made it great to be teaching in my preferred grades.

Life

Lent started and I'm doing a good job of sticking to my Lenten sacrifices so far. We celebrated my oldest niece's birthday on Saturday and my sister-in-law made a chocolate cake. I was sad to turn it down, but settled for some vanilla ice cream instead. Now if only there was a filter for Pinterest, so I didn't have to see all the yummy chocolate things on there!

I finally watched the movie, Pitch Perfect, this weekend. I don't know why I waited so long to watch it; it was a great movie. I was also very excited that Once Upon a Time came back this weekend. The episode was awesome and I'm so happy to have Captain Hook back on my TV.

 How was your week?

 

Week In Review

 Sorry, there was no Week in Review post last week because the previous week was awful and I really didn't want to think about it. We're currently still adjusting to being a one cat household and it's a trial for all of us.

Work

I worked a couple days last week and could have had more, but I wasn't feeling great in the morning when I got the call and hadn't slept well, so I did turn down a job. I was back at my usual school and even had my favorite 4th graders. It still blows me away that I have a favorite 4th grade class when I usually dread doing anything above 2nd grade. Now if only the winter would let up so we can have some outside recess!

I turned in my application for my summer job, so hopefully I'll be back at the day camp again this year. I'm hoping for a group of younger children of my own like I was supposed to have last year. But, I would survive if I was stuck with the older kids again especially if I'm back at the same camp. I've got lots of ideas for this summer and I'm excited to get back to it.

Life

As I said, we're all adjusting to not having Mimi around anymore. Sammy has been very affectionate and has been sleeping on our bed most nights. I think she misses having someone to torment.

We ended up going out on Friday night for my brother-in-law's birthday. It was fun to a point and a nice reminder of why I don't drink much.

Sunday night, I enjoyed watching The Oscars. I mostly just watched to see Benedict Cumberbatch present an award, but I also enjoyed Ellen and her antics.

And of course, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Benedict's hijinks.

How was your week?

 

Week in Review

Hey look, I wrote a post in advance! Amazing!

Work

We actually went to school every day we were supposed to this week. It was a 4-day week because of mid-winter break though, so it wasn't a full week. I really wanted to work every day this week, but only ended up working 3 of the days. I was actually glad to have Tuesday off after all, because my cold was pretty bad that day. It was nice to have a day to rest and fight the sickness.

I had my favorite 4th graders on Monday, kindergarten on Wednesday, and my friend's 2nd grade class on Thursday. It was a pretty good week and I picked up more jobs for the future. So far, nothing for this week, but I hope that will change soon.

Life

We spent our evenings watching the Olympics all week. I'm a figure skating fan, so I was really interested in those competitions. I absolutely adore Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

M had to work on Valentine's Day, so I spent it home alone watching White Collar (Yum, Matt Bomer!) and eating frozen pizza. I was craving chocolate, so I got into my brownie mix stash and made brownies. Best idea I had all week!

We spent the weekend mostly at home watching TV. We did venture out to Target on Saturday to hit up the Valentine clearance, but only ended up getting a dog toy for my mother-in-law's dog. We made homemade pizza Sunday night, which was the second best idea I had all week.

How was your week?


 

Week in Review

I swear, I have no idea what day it is anymore. I keep thinking today is Thursday. I'm late, but let's do this!

Another week down, another week closer to spring. Right? Please? I need the snow and cold to go away!

Work

Once again, we could NOT have a complete week of school. We ended up missing Wednesday due to some overnight snow making the already crappy roads that much worse. And then we didn't have school on Friday due to some dangerous windchill.

Luckily, I was able to work the three days we did have school last week. I did 4th grade on Monday, Kindergarten on Tuesday, and then another 4th grade on Thursday. The kids are understandably antsy due to our completely messed up schedule, but we're all dealing as best we can.

In six weeks of school, we've only had one full week of school.  This week and next week are already short thanks to mid-winter break, so we'll go 2 months with only one full week of school. Crazy.

Life

Snow and cold means I pretty much stay inside when I'm not at work. I'm really excited that the Olympics started. I watched the Opening Ceremony Friday night and then watched whatever NBC would show me all weekend.

Life is pretty boring in the frozen tundra.

How was your week?


 

Week in Review

I know I've complained about this before, but I am really ready for winter to just be over. I hate snow and cold weather in a normal year, but this year has been ridiculous. And now that groundhog says six more weeks of winter. Grrrr!

Work

Thanks to the latest round of the polar vortex, we once again didn't have school for three days. I was supposed to work on Thursday, but since it was our first day back in a week, the job was cancelled. I did work on Friday in a 4th grade classroom. I mostly just monitored while the student teacher did all the teaching. It was a nice way to ease back into work after so many days off work.

And to add insult to injury, while I wasn't making money because we didn't have school, most of my jobs for this coming week were cancelled. So much for the awesome paycheck I was looking forward to!  They're calling for more snow Tuesday night, so who knows if have a normal week this week.

Life

Life was pretty boring thanks to that polar vortex. The temperatures were bitterly cold and I was not up for going anywhere. I finally got out of the house on Friday for work and then went to the grocery store. Sunday night, I watched the Super Bowl. Since I was rooting for the Broncos, that was a disappointment. I spent most of the game yelling at the TV. At least some of the commercials were good.

How was your week?

 

Week in Review

Oh winter, will you ever end? Or at the very least, let up a little? I think I might have to start a countdown to spring to cope with this weather.

Let's take a look at last week...

Work

Thanks to various factors, I only worked one half day last week. It was a third grade class full of students I already knew thanks to previous years of subbing.

We didn't have school Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Wednesday I had an appointment. I was supposed to work Thursday, but Mother Nature decided we needed round 2 of the polar vortex and we didn't have school. We then also did not have school on Friday.

That makes 5 days this month we've not had school due to the weather. And that's not counting today and I'm sure tomorrow since the high is below zero. So it's probably a good thing we started school a week earlier than usual because we're going to have at least a week's worth of days to makeup come June.

Life

Life was pretty quiet last week thanks to that polar vortex. M was on vacation from work, but I was supposed to be working, so we didn't have any plans. We did go get health screenings done on Wednesday for the insurance company. Turns out, I have really good cholesterol numbers, so that was good news.

Home

Other than the visit to the clinic, the only trips I made out into the frozen tundra was to go to the grocery store a couple times. For some reason, being stuck inside is making me want to cook and bake. I baked cookies Saturday night and of course, now I can't stop eating them. This is why I avoid having sweets in the house.

I did take the rack of ribs out of the freezer to thaw and I'll make BBQ sauce tomorrow so I can throw those in the crock-pot for Tuesday. With a high in the negative digits, a nice hot meal is definitely in order.

How was your week?
 

Week in Review

I'm trying a new format for this week's Week in Review post. Please bare with me as I get bored with things and have to change things up every now and then.

Work

School was back to normal after our previous snow-filled week. I managed to work 4 out of 5 days. One and half of those days were with the sweetest kindergarten class at my usual school. They are one of my favorite classes this year.

Wednesday was with my usual 3rd and 4th graders which I requested when I was scheduled. It's nice to be able to do that every once in awhile.

Home

I stuck to my goal of doing laundry on the weekends in order to stay caught up and I'm feeling pretty good about sticking to that goal. We also managed to finally take down the Christmas tree. Now, there's a huge empty space in my living room that I swear wasn't there before.

Life

My biggest exited of the week was going shoe shopping on Saturday. I finally got desperate for a new pair of shoes for work. I hit up DSW praying that I could find something that would work for a good price. I ended up finding the perfect pair of shoes on the clearance rack for half off and I had a birthday coupon. I scored a pair of $70 shoes for only $25. Now I just hope they stay comfortable and I actually like wearing them.

How was your week?
 

Week in Review

What a week! The Polar Vortex hit and suddenly all plans for the week were changed.

 Monday was my birthday and any plans I thought I had were thrown out thanks to Mother Nature. We ended up with at least foot of snow and temperatures well under zero. We ended up under a state of emergency and were forced to stay inside all day. And our nephew was down for the weekend and ended up trapped at our house.

However, I still managed to have a pretty good day. We tried out the waffle maker I got for Christmas and had waffles for breakfast. We pretty much just watched TV and movies all day and enjoyed having a snow day. And my husband was super smart and picked up cupcakes before the snow hit.

On Tuesday, the travel restrictions were lifted, so M was able to go to work. We still didn't have school, so I wasn't going anywhere. Our nephew was able to leave in the evening.

Finally on Wednesday, I left the house. I was getting some cabin fever after being forced to stay inside for 3 days. My mom took me out to lunch and we did some shopping. It was the third day of no school and I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever go back.

We did finally go back to school on Thursday. Of course, just to make it interesting, we had a 2-hour delay. But since I was working that day, I didn't mind! I taught a 2nd grade class and I thought they did a great job considering it was their first day back after 2 and half weeks off. The roads still weren't great and even though I left the house early, I still got to work at my usual time. I hate driving in the winter.

Friday, I spent the morning teaching my favorite kindergarten class. I meant to come home and work on taking down the Christmas decorations, but instead I ended up sleeping on the couch when I just couldn't keep my eyes open.

I also meant to take down the Christmas decorations over the weekend, but only took down a few things. I'm not motivated because I don't want Christmas to be over. Instead, I did important things like watch the last episode of Sherlock series 3 (OH MY GOD! So, so, so good!) and watch the Golden Globes. I also managed to do a load of laundry, so go me.

How was your week?

Week in Review

 What a busy week! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving if you celebrate.

It was a short week for school and I was really looking forward to having some days off. I did end up working the two days we did have school last week. Both days went well and I actually got to go to different schools for once.

On Wednesday, I prepared for the two Thanksgiving dinners we were attending. I had several things to bake as I am the dessert girl of the family as well as a side dish to prepare. I ended up making Texas Sheet Cake for the first time and it was awesome! And I learned that I can make icing from scratch successfully.

I also made my signature mini chocolate chip cheesecakes. I bought enough ingredients to make another batch for Christmas, but I may just make them and send them into work with M because I'm getting burnt out on them and want to try other things. Or maybe I can find a different cheesecake that uses the same ingredients. I'm sure Pinterest will have ideas!

On Thursday, M and I had dinner with my mom and grandma. This worked out well because my mom lives near M's store and he had to be there at 7:30 for their 8:00 opening. (No, I was not thrilled with this.) He ended up napping after dinner for a few hours. And due to his crazy schedule, I basically only saw him awake and not at work for about 4 hours in a 24 hour period.

My mom and I did end up going out to check out the Black Friday sales on Thursday night. We waited until 10:00 for the crowds to thin out. We only went to a few stores and it wasn't terrible. We visited M at his store and I scored some good deals for gifts.

On Friday, we did Thanksgiving with M's family. I spent a lot of time playing bowling and archery on the Wii in addition to visiting with family.

Over the weekend, I got out the Christmas decorations and began to decorate the house. I'm hoping to get the tree up today. I should have started baking Christmas cookies, but after all that baking I just did for Thanksgiving, I wasn't in the mood. Hopefully, I'll be in the mood to bake next weekend. The late Thanksgiving has totally screwed up my Christmas baking timeline.

Luckily, we have a couple days off of school before Christmas, so hopefully I can get everything done. We're hosting Christmas this year for M's family on Christmas eve, so I have a lot to accomplish in the next 22 days!

How was your week?


 

Week in Review

What a crazy, busy week!

I worked every day last week at the same school. I've been working at that school far more than the others, which will hopefully turn into a good thing when they start hiring for next year.

Three of those days last week were for the same first grade class. They were sweethearts and now whenever they see me at school, they get excited. I'm hoping I get a chance to sub for them again this year.

Over the weekend, I went to my favorite baby's first birthday party. It was monster themed and a lot of fun. His mom and grandma did a great job planning it.

On Sunday, we dealt with the terrible storms that went through the Midwest. I spent the day anxiously watching the local weather channel. We were under a tornado watch and I'm terrified of tornadoes. Give me a hurricane, any day! Thankfully, all we got here was a lot of intense wind and storms for a little bit. Our only damage was some small branches in the yard from our walnut tree. We are very thankful!

Now, I'm looking forward to some time off next week and planning some good food to eat at Thanksgiving.

How was your week?


 

Week in Review

Since we just had our 3 day Fall Break, last week was fairly quiet work-wise.  (I can't believe we've been back from Minnesota for over a week now!)

I did manage to pick up 3 days of work, all of them half days. So far, November is pretty wide open in my schedule, but I'm hopeful that it will quickly fill up with more jobs.

 Since we don't have kids, we didn't do Halloween. Trick-or-Treating doesn't seem to really happen on our street, so I don't worry about buying candy and passing it out. Plus, we take advantage of the vigil mass and go to All Saints Day mass on Halloween night. It is usually pretty empty - mostly just older people since all the families are out trick-or-treating. It's nice to have one mass a year where I don't have to deal with noisy children. (I love children, but some people really need to teach their kids how to behave in church.)

I spent the weekend at home as usual. The time-change meant that my husband got to work 9 hours overnight instead of the usual 8. I have to remind myself that his benefits are great whenever I get annoyed with his company.

I really miss the days when Indiana didn't participate in Daylight Savings Time. Thanks a lot Mitch Daniels. 

How was your week?