Random Facts About Yours Truly

Hello!  Me again. A LOT has happened since my last post, the biggest event being the birth of my daughter.  I will post more about that at another time.

Source  via Kate on Pinterest

Anyway...

I provided a very brief summary of my blogging history in this post here and also expressed a desire to slowly move posts from these past ventures to this present blog.  This is more out of a desire to have all of my favorite blog posts/writings in one spot and less about lazy blogging, but hey, if it makes for an easy post on a busy work night for a woman who is just desperately trying to make writing a bigger part of her daily/weekly life, then, it's a win-win, right?

Well, the day I started to write this post was not so much a busy work night as it was a lazy snow day in 2015, but hey, who's keeping track?  Yeah, it was the first "official" day of spring, and we got several inches of snow after  several weeks of thinking that winter was slowly trickling away like the melting ice.  This is just further proof that God has a sense of humor.  I know God has a sense of humor (He has to).

Source  via Kate on Pinterest

One time, years ago, I silently said a prayer to God while sitting in a rocking chair in my parents' kitchen.  It must have been a particularly trying day because I was asking God what the source was of all of my problems and why I was having such a hard time with everything in life.  I got the sudden urge to look to my right, and on the stand beside me was a glass canning jar labeled "Wide Mouth."  God must have been trying to tell me that my big mouth was the source of most of my troubles.  I laughed out loud and said, "Very funny."  I knew for absolutely certain in that moment that God does, in fact, have a sense of humor, and if we truly believe that the best parts of us are made in His image, then, that is just further proof that He must have a sense of humor because I feel humor and laughter are sometimes the only things to keep us from losing our minds.

Surprising snow days and my big mouth aside... Clearly, it has taken me months upon months to finish this post and finally get it posted because we are now awaiting spring 2016.  *sigh*  Such is life...

One of my favorite old blog posts was just a long, drawn out list of random facts about myself.  Starting April 8th, 2010 (at 9:35 p.m., apparently), I posted a new fact each day for the length of the post (which ended up being 52 facts; hey, 52 days of posting is pretty good for me).

This was my own original description of the "blog post" at the top of the note:

Out of sheer boredom, and the inability to sleep due to a horrendous migraine, I decided to post a note, which will, in turn, become a daily blog, containing random facts about myself. Each day, I will post a new random fact about myself at the top of the note. I am such a random person that this blog could potentially go on indefinitely. The better you know me, the less random the facts might seem, but I will try to post a few that even those of you that know me the best might be surprised to discover! :)

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Since these facts were usually digested in daily or semi-daily installments, I think posting all 52 facts at once would be a bit of a daunting read.  So, instead, I will be re-posting these facts in chunks of 5-10 facts per post (some of them are pretty long and detailed).  After all of the original facts are posted (with necessary updates and edits), I may continue with posting random facts about myself if it seems like people care enough to read them, or just for posterity's sake (so that, someday, my grandchildren can see how truly neurotic I was).

So, here you go, 5 random facts about yours truly... ENJOY!  :)

Originally posted on Facebook as "Random Facts:  A Daily Blog."

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Random Fact #1: I can simultaneously turn both of my feet approximately 3/4 of the way around backwards and walk! I can also turn each individual foot around entirely backwards and walk. If teaching doesn't pan out, I might just have circus/carnie potential! (Posted 04/08/2010)*

*Side Note:  I'm not sure that I can still do this, and I'm not sure that I want to try to find out if I can...

Random Fact #2: I tend to eat things in even numbers whenever possible. For example, I will usually eat 6 Oreo cookies instead of 5 or 7; however, I am not so compulsive that I would go buy a new box of cookies if there were only 5 left. I do have healthy limits to my OCD, you know. (Posted 04/09/2010)

Source  via Kate on Pinterest

Random Fact #3: My favorite flowers are orange roses and poppies. I like orange flowers better than any other color. I also like tiger lilies and snapdragons. (Posted 04/10/2010)

Source  via Kate on Pinterest

Random Fact #4: When I was a young child, I used to tell my family that, someday, I wanted to name my first child Pinochle. I no longer have this desire. (Posted 04/11/2010)**

**And very lucky for my son that I did not...

Random Fact #5: Every year (for as long as I can remember), when my mom asks what kind of cake I want for my birthday, I ask her to make me homemade strawberry shortcake. It's pretty much the best birthday cake EVER! I plan on keeping this tradition for the rest of my life. I love you, Mom! (Posted 04/12/2010)

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What are some random facts about you?  Feel free to share in the comments below!  :)  And stay tuned for future installments of Random Facts About Yours Truly!  :)

*Note:  This is going to be a Friday-themed post, but I was little to slow on the trigger this time.  Ah, well... something to aspire to for next time.

Seeing is Believing... Literally...

We are not going to talk about how it's been months since my last post.  I will not make excuses.  However, it is summer now, so hopefully, this happens more.

Back in December, I got LASIK eye surgery, and I've been meaning to blog about it ever since, so here it is!

Modern medicine is nothing short of miraculous.

I remember a time in fourth grade before I knew I needed glasses, before I knew just how horrible my vision truly was.

I was sitting in the classroom of a fourth grade teacher who was not my own.  We were watching The Great Panda Adventure.  I was squinting so that I could see the television screen and assuming that that was what everybody had to do in order to see the television clearly (I certainly couldn't remember a time when I did otherwise).  As we were leaving the classroom, I remember that teacher saying to me, "Next time, bring your glasses," and I remember thinking to myself, "What does that jerk know?  I don't even wear glasses."

Source:  diply.com via Kate on Pinterest

It was discovered toward the end of 5th grade that I did, in fact, need glasses something horribly.  As I sat in the optometrist's office, I remember him asking me to read a line, and I recited the letters as I saw them with confidence.  My older sister Julia, my mother, and my father were in the exam room with me because they were getting their new glasses that day, and I remember them stifling laughter after witnessing my performance.  I was convinced that I kicked that Snellen Chart's @$$.  Turns out, I did not.  Turns out, I did very, very badly.

(You may have to click on the link to this image to zoom in and read the captions, and I highly recommend that you do, as they are hilarious and similar to my Snellen Chart experience haha!)

Source:  dumpaday.com  via Kate on Pinterest

I remember being so mad that I had to get glasses, and I remember my sister being glad that she was no longer the only sibling who needed glasses.  Isn't it funny the things we remember from our childhood?

Putting on glasses for the first time and realizing what the world was supposed to look like was kind of like this:

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) based on the book by Roald Dahl

Flash forward to 2014, and I had been a glasses/contacts wearer for 18 years out of the 29 I have spent on this earth.  For years, I had contemplated LASIK and its benefits, and for years, I lamented the fact that I could not afford the procedure.

Source:  buzzfeed.com via Kate on Pinterest

A couple of years ago, my eye doctor told me I was the perfect candidate for LASIK:  I had horrible vision; I was at the age where my eyes had finally stopped changing dramatically; and I was young enough to enjoy the greatest number of years of benefit from the procedure because 90% of people end up needing some form of reading glasses around the age of 40.  All I needed now was to not be pregnant for six months and have the money.  So, when my son was about 18 months old and my husband heard from a friend that they were offering a special and financing for the procedure at a local eye clinic, I thought, it's now or never.  So, this past December 2014, I finally took the leap and had LASIK eye surgery!

I had had surgery before, but none of those procedures seemed to terrify me like this one did.  I had a double lumpectomy at the age of 21, just a few short weeks after having a tonsilloadendoidectomy.  At the age of 28 I had my two wisdom teeth removed (I only had the two, which was surprising after my dentist and hygienists had told me that it looked as if I had none; imagine my surprise when I started teething around the same time as my son).  Then, finally, at the age of 29, I had several moles removed.  That is the extent of my surgical history.  None of those surgeries seemed super scary (except the lumpectomy before I knew that the tumors were benign; that part was a little scary, but not so much the surgery itself).  All of those surgeries involved removing undesirable things from my body, so there really did not not seem like a downside to having them.  However, with LASIK, there was always that fear in the back of my mind:  what if this surgery does not fix my eyes, or worse, what if I go blind?  A botched mole removal or lumpectomy might leave an undesirable scar, and the scariest thing about the tonsilloadendoidectomy and the wisdom teeth extraction was the anesthesia.  But, LASIK?  LASIK was surgery ON MY EYES!  That is terrifying!

Source:  buzzfeed.com via Kate on Pinterest

Thankfully, my surgery went off with nary a hitch.  The first eye was finished, and despite the fact that it takes several days for the eyes to heal and the full effects of the surgery to be apparent, I was reading a blurry 20/15 immediately afterwards.  I know this because I had to wait for my second eye to be operated on because a small air bubble found its way under my corneal flap when they started on my left eye.  Just imagine the terror that spread through my body when the doctor had to stop, mid-surgery, to explain that something had gone wrong!  Ahhhh!  Thankfully, the air bubbles are nothing to be scared of; however, if they had gone ahead with the surgery while the air bubble was present, it could have affected the accuracy of the surgery, so I was glad that they were cautious and made me wait for the bubble to dissipate.

The surgery ended.  All appeared to have gone quite well, considering.  The one optometrist who checked my eyes after the surgery told me to go home, nap for a few hours, and take it easy.  However, because my surgery was delayed, I didn't make it home in time to nap like I was supposed to, and I soon figured out why I was told to sleep.

No one had warned me about the excruciating pain which occurs within a few hours of the surgery.  Not a single person.  But, sure enough, I was waiting in the car while Shawn went into the pharmacy for my eye drops, and the pain slowly started creeping in to my eyes.  It was mild at first but kept intensifying as time passed.  Soon, it felt like sand was being rubbed vigorously in my eyes, and I was powerless, as the one instruction they were very adamant about was "DO NOT RUB YOUR EYES!"  My eyes began furiously tearing up, and as a result, my nose soon began running uncontrollably.  I told my husband to drive me back to the surgery facility immediately!  We had to stop to get gas first, and by the time we got back to the office, it was closed.  So, we had to call the on-call optometrist back in to come look at me, and he was a good hour and a half away.  While we waited, I swore I was going to pee my pants, so we had to go back to the gas station, where Shawn had to lead me to the bathroom because I could not open my eyes long enough to make it to the restroom without running in to somebody.  I'm sure everybody in that Sheetz was thinking, "What the heck is going on with that lady?!"  Then, we drove back to the eye doctor's office, where we were waiting for what felt like an eternity.  When the doctor finally arrived, he looked at my eyes, said that they had dried out pretty badly, but the corneas had not torn (which was a super good thing).  He decided to load me up with tons of numbing drops and then put contact lens "bandages" on my eyes to keep from having another attack of pain.  He said that the oils from my tears had irritated my eyes, which caused my eyes to tear up even more, leading to more irritation, and thus, a vicious cycle of pain.  After feeling like a total idiot when the pain finally subsided, I went home, slept it off, went in the next day for the one day follow-up, had the lenses removed, and all was right with the world.

Now that I have thoroughly terrified anyone who was thinking about having LASIK, here is the good news:  even despite that somewhat traumatic experience, I would do it all over again... in a heartbeat!

Just under 6 months later, I am still reading 20/15, which is better than 20/20!  For someone who was reading worse than 20/100 prior to the surgery and was told that I would not legally be allowed to drive without glasses or contacts, this is absolutely miraculous!  It is one of the best things I have ever chosen to do in my life!  As a contact lens wearer, it took a while for it to really set in what had happened.  I still have the occasional thought before bed that I need to remove my contacts, and then, I remember, I'm not wearing any!  I gave all of my lens solution to my younger sister who is a glasses/contacts wearer, though I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with my glasses and leftover contacts.  That day, it felt like a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders!  I could see!  :)

To think that centuries ago, I would have been disabled and relegated to a job that only required limited near sightedness, and I probably would have rarely, if ever, been able to leave the house.  But, thanks to modern medicine and the invention of corrective lens, I have been and am able to live a full and functional life.  As I said, modern medicine is nothing short of miraculous!  :)

Source:  buzzfeed.com via Kate on Pinterest

I am due to schedule my 6-month follow-up appointment, and I know it sounds silly, but, every day I think about being able to see clearly unaided, I feel like I need to say a quick prayer of thanks and gratitude, for fear that if I take for granted the amazing blessing of modern medicine that I will slowly begin to lose the benefits the surgery has given me.  Absolutely crazy, I know, but I still fear it all the same.  I know that my eyes will slowly get worse again, and I am 100% certain that I will need bifocals at some point in my life, but I am hoping that, by getting the surgery fairly young, I will get the maximum number of years of benefit out of the surgery, just as my doctor said.

So, if you are thinking or have been thinking about getting LASIK and you have been on the fence, consider this my endorsement.  Definitely do your research, talk to people who have had it done, find a place with a great reputation, look into your financial options, and if the opportunity presents itself, you really, really should consider taking it.  It may just be one of the best decisions you ever make.  It definitely was for me!

Saturday Songspiration

Behind every name, there lies a story.

Source:  Found on bloodynessi.deviantart.com  via Kate on Pinterest

So, for today's post, kick back and enjoy the story of how my blog got its name.

I may be more than stating the obvious for those of you who know me, but for those of you who do not, there is one thing you need to know about me:  I was once a Muse fanatic (and still am to some extent).  If you ask me who Muse are, I will most likely shoot you a look of shock that says, "I am so sorry your life has been so empty up until this point!"  And then, I will promptly go on to share with you more than you would ever like to know about the English band (like I am about to do).

I was introduced to the band Muse by my sister Carly.  When she made me listen to some samples of their musical genius, I swore I had heard the song ("Starlight") elsewhere and just could not place where or how, but regardless of whether or not I had heard of them up until that point in my life, this simple sentence spoken by my sister would change my life forever:  "Kate, you have to check out this band!  You'll like them!  And the lead singer is kind of scrawny, so you'll really like him!"

((Side note:  I have an inexplicably strange affinity for scrawny and/or nerdy men... muscular men have never been my type... strange, perhaps, but  you will learn sooner rather than later, if you haven't already, that I am anything but predictable!))

Here is the music video for the song "Starlight."  If you've never heard it, you should listen.  It's one of my favorites.

Copyright 2006 by Muse, "Starlight" from Black Holes & Revelations

I went on to see Muse in concert three times after this.  Once when they opened for U2, and twice when they were the headliners.  All three times were EPIC, an adjective that Muse fans use quite liberally.  They seriously put on some of the best shows I have ever seen (they have received 43 nominations and won 16 different honors from the NME Awards, including Best Live Band and Best Live Event).

These days, I'm still a huge Muse fan, but I have downgraded myself from utter fanatic to huge-time admirer.  I blame their newest album The Second Law (released October 2012).  This is going to make me sound like a huge music snob, but this album just sounds so commercialized and cheesy, and not at all like their old stuff.  Matthew Bellamy, the lead singer and primary writer of most of the lyrics and music, is an absolute musical genius.  Many of their songs feature classical instruments (violins, cellos, piano, etc. ) for which Bellamy composes all of the music, and their album The Resistance (2009) even features a three part symphony called "Exogenesis," which Bellamy composed in its entirety.  You can listen to this symphony below if you'd like.  It is 13 minutes from start to finish.  My favorite is Part III, "Redemption," if you're short for time and only want to listen to a sample.

Copyright 2009 by Muse, "Exogenesis Symphony" Parts I, II, & II from The Resistance

Bellamy is insane on the guitar and piano, and his voice is what I like to call Freddy-Mercurial (he can hit falsetto like it's his job... which I guess it kind of is).  Enough cannot be said of his musical genius, and the lyrics that he writes are pure poetry... or at least they were... till The Second Law was released and we went from this,

Source:  Found on weheartit.com via Kate on Pinterest

this,

(Even though it is kind of a Shakespeare rip-off--or homage, depending how you look at it)

Source:  Found on lyrics2liveby.com via Kate on Pinterest

and this

Source:  Found on Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest

to this

Copyright 2012 by Muse, "Survival" from The Second Law

WTH, Matthew?  Seriously... W... T... H...*

When I first heard that a Muse song would be the official song of the 2012 Olympics, I was so pumped thinking about how Muse would finally get the recognition they deserved.  The whole world would be watching.  Everybody would finally know who Muse were!  Then, I heard "Survival," and it... was... awful!

To make matters worse, stupid NBC cut Muse's performance from the televised broadcast of the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.  Let me repeat that... NBC CUT THE OFFICIAL SONG OF THE 2012 OLYMPICS FROM THE BROADCAST OF THE CLOSING CEREMONIES!

WTH, NBC?!  Seriously, W... T... H...

I'm not bitter or anything...

Currently Muse are working on a new album to be released sometime this year.  It appears to be called (at least tentatively) Drones.  Let's hope that it is a vast improvement and a return to their roots.  Okay... so maybe I am a bit of a music snob... sometimes...

So, anyway, at the time I began my blog, I was in the thick of my Muse obsession.  Plus, the idea of a writer and his/her muse goes together like peanut butter and chocolate, peas and carrots, wine and... well... everything.  So, I decided that titling my Blog "Musings of a Second Rate Poet" would not only accurately reflect upon the origin of my passion for writing [in my first blog post (found here), I kind of explained where the "Second-Rate Poet" part came from] and the general ramblings... er... musings that I planned to compose and share on the blog, but it would also give a slight nod to one of my favorite bands... who are still one of my favorites... despite their [hopefully] temporary hiatus from the number one spot on my list.  Who is my number one currently, you might ask... Let's save that for another blog post. ;-)  Bonus points to anyone who can guess correctly...

So, there you have it!  The origins of my blog's name... as well as more information than you probably ever hoped to learn about Muse... You're welcome...

Source:  Found on listal.com via Kate on Pinterest

*My dearest Matthew Bellamy, if you ever read this blog post, I still love you and think Muse is nothing short of epic.  I blame the awfulness of The Second Law on Kate Hudson.  Although your relationship produced a beautiful, beautiful child, it did not produce beautiful, beautiful music, and for that, I forgive you.

The Blog is Back...

I really wanted to title this, "The Blog is Back" followed by an alliterative expletive because I have a very twisted and dark sense of humor, but I decided to keep it a little more PC for my first day back at the blog drawing board.  So, instead of calling my blog by the aforementioned title, I told you a quick story about what I wanted to call it; therefore, you can now imagine that this post is titled as such, but I still come off as looking slightly more classy... maybe?  If you are reading this thinking, "What the heck is she talking about?" welcome to a small sampling of the ramblings that constantly go on inside my brain while I pretend to be a normal, functioning member of society outside of it.

Eh, being classy is overrated...

Source:  http://gevaaalik.com/facebook-funnies via Pinterest

So, has it really been just under a year and a half since my last blog post?  Don't you hate rhetorical questions with obvious answers?

Source:  http://www.zazzle.com/rhetorical_questions_coffee_mugs-168395714520086649 via Pinterest

What can I say?  Life happens/happened.  This is a sentiment peppered throughout various posts on my pitiful excuse for a blog, but in all seriousness... in this year and some odd months... life got CRAZY!

The last time I blogged, I was giving up Facebook for Lent... in 2013.  I mentioned all of these grand plans of being a blogging fiend during my weeks of Facebook withdrawal, and to be perfectly cliche, as many of "the best laid schemes of mice and men" often do, this pie in the sky dream went straight down the toilet.

In my defense, I was just about 5 months pregnant when I wrote my last entry, and as if the pressures of impending parenthood aren't daunting enough, I was told not long after this post that I would be switching teaching assignments AGAIN.  So, picture this:  a very pregnant lady told she has to move classrooms and teaching assignments for the third time in five years of teaching (which means somehow moving boxes while 9 months pregnant and somehow mapping out a whole new curriculum during her first few months of motherhood), all of this happening right around the time of the stress-filled insanity that is standardized testing season, and all while she is trying desperately to finish up classes to meet her Level II teaching requirements so that she does not get suspended or lose said teaching job.  Well, that pregnant lady was me, so I don't have to imagine.  In addition to all of this, I had just very recently, before that post, quit my weekend job of wrapping silverware for a local restaurant because, not only was I too pregnant to lift heavy trays of silverware, but my position had become redundant; if it weren't for those two reasons, I would probably still be teaching full-time and wrapping on the weekends.

No, not THAT kind of rapping on the weekends...

Source:  http://indulgy.com/post/fe6Zf9OxP1/yeeaah via Pinterest

Needless to say, I was a very, very busy and very, very pregnant lady, and so, when push came to shove and I had to let some things slide, of course, writing was the first thing to go because it was my "leisure" activity.  However, when writing goes, so does my sanity.  It's a vicious cycle really.

Source:  http://writerunboxed.com/2010/12/04/cartoon-caption-winner/ via Pinterest

Then, of course, motherhood happened.  For me, parenthood has been the most amazingly crazy joyride ever.  Parenting is not for everyone, but for me, it really put life into perspective.  I learned to put off things that were not absolutely essential in order to make room for those that were.  I learned to prioritize my time (still working on that, but getting better daily).  I learned how much I really can accomplish in a day, not even because I want to, but just because I HAVE to.  I learned just how much love I was capable of feeling and to what lengths I was truly willing to go to in order to care for those I love the most.  I learned sacrifice.  I learned true selflessness.  Being a mother (or a father) is a FULL-TIME JOB!  So, being a working mother (or father) is essentially like having TWO FULL-TIME JOBS!  It is not for the faint of heart!

However, I think everyone reaches a time in their parenting experience when they realize that it is okay to make time for yourself.  It is okay to find a baby sitter while you and your spouse go on a date night.  Doing such does not make someone a bad parent.  But it is also okay to put off grading those papers for one more night and hold your baby instead because, after all, he will not be this small forever.  It is also okay to tell someone, "No, I cannot make it to this event," or "No, I do not have time to volunteer for this," because, let's face it:  no one can do it all.  Those that pretend they can are only fooling themselves, and it won't be long before they, too, become burnt out and realize it's okay to ask for help, it's okay to say no, it's okay to not be perfect.  I feel like parenting has really taught me about balance, or I guess, it would be more accurate to say it is TEACHING me about balance.

Source:  http://www.briantracy.com via Pinterest

Well, now, with one year of parenting and one year of 7th grade English under my belt, and with my Level II teaching certification being officially completed and approved, and my ESL certification very close to being finished (it will be done by the end of summer), I finally feel like I can come up for air again.  I really have a feeling like 2014-2015 is going to be the year where things finally start to settle in their places (at least I can hope, right).

So, with all of that being said, here's to hoping that somewhere, somehow, and sometimes in this crazy, rat race that is life I can find some time to write again.  It's not even a matter of "if" I can find the time; I WILL find the time.  I HAVE to find the time.  Writing is one of the few things I do for me, and if we want to be the best version of ourselves for the most important people in our lives then we must realize that part of that is making sure that we take care of ourselves in the process.  I WILL find time to write, and who knows... maybe you will even find some time to read... ;)

Source:  http://www.pinterest.com/rainasfancy/ via Pinterest

So... ladies and gentlemen... the blog is back... ;)

Lollipop Moments

I consider myself a realist... with pessimistic tendencies.  The glass is NOT half empty.  The glass is NOT half full.  It is quite simply half of a glass.

However, some days... a lot of days, lately, it seems... my inner cynic creeps out and wreaks havoc on my realism.  Some would say that being a realist is already negative enough, but trust me... I can definitely be more negative.  In fact, being negative comes all too easily to me sometimes.

Thursdays tend to be very frustratingly long days for me.  On top of my typical teaching workday, I come home on Thursdays only to have to turn around and get ready immediately for the evening classes that I have been taking as I work toward my certification as an English as a Second Language Program Specialist.  I am working on this certification to help me achieve my Level II teaching certification (a.k.a. my permanent teaching certification).  Anyone who is a fellow teacher can commiserate with me on how frustrating it is as a teacher to have to constantly meet Continuing Education requirements just to maintain the validity of one's certification.

Source: heygirlteacher.tumblr.com via Kate on Pinterest

Thank you, Ryan Gosling!  At least you understand!

It's a LOT of work to be a teacher.  Just go ahead and say, "But you get summers off!"  I dare you!  Because when you do, I will then proceed to verbally punch you in the face, while I imagine actually doing it.

Source: philnel.com via Caitlan on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kristin on Pinterest

So, clearly, based on that little tirade alone, you can see that Thursdays tend to frustrate the living hell out of me and bring out the inner pessimist that lurks beneath my realist facade.  Now, do not misunderstand me.  I LOVE my ESL classes!  I have been learning so much from them, and I have an AWESOME teacher!  However, 3 hours of class after a full-day of teaching is not for the faint of heart, especially when getting to those 3-hour classes requires a little less than 2 hours of driving.  Needless to say, I am thankful that the day following this schedule is a Friday.

As if all of this were not enough to explain my pessimism this morning, I am even further frustrated by Thursdays because they are "Advisory Days."  Advisory is a short 24-minute chunk of time taken out of every Thursday morning that is devoted to our school's anti-bullying efforts.  This 24-minute chunk has to come from somewhere, so the rest of the morning classes get condensed until the schedule is able to be corrected in time for the lunch rotations to begin.  So, every Thursday, I lose 6 minutes of my prep period (which adds up to A LOT over the whole school year), and I lose 15 minutes of instructional time.  VERY FRUSTRATING INDEED!

Do NOT get me wrong!  I think it is great that we are doing more to address the issue of bullying; however, talking about bullying with 5th graders often turns them into huge tattle-tales the rest of the day.  EVERYTHING becomes bullying to them.  Even when you explain the difference between just being mean and bullying, which is recurrent, they still find a way to turn EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN into a bullying crisis.  The other extreme is apathy:  kids who could care less... often either the bullies themselves of the bystanders who do nothing.  There are very few kids who actually absorb the information and process it the way that it needs to be, so it ends up, often, turning into this big, frustrating, pain-in-butt waste of time.

So, when I looked at the agenda for today's Advisory period, and saw that we were doing this activity about these things called "Lollipop Moments," I internally rolled my eyes and thought, "Fan-freaking-tastic!  I really need to practice Reading skills with my kids, and instead, we have to talk about 'Lollipop Moments!'  What the crap kind of cheese-ball thing is this?!"  So, I went into the whole experience very negatively.  I did not preview the video we were to show the kids because I could not seem to find the will to care enough to do so.  So, when I began playing the video for the students, it was the first time any of us, including myself, had ever seen it.

Now, any time you show a video, there are always those couple of kids who will sit and talk no matter how entertaining the video is, but during this video, many of the kids were legitimately paying attention.  Even more shocking, I was legitimately paying attention.  Rather than trying to explain it too much, I will include the video clip below.




Basically, "Lollipop Moments," are moments when someone has profoundly changed your life for the better without their even realizing it.  The project we had the kids do related to this initiative required them to write the name of person who had changed their lives for the better on a paper lollipop and then decorate it.  When everyone has finished their lollipops and turned them in, they will be put on display in the school where everyone can see just how many people have changed the lives of others.  It's actually pretty cool when you think about it, and a real shocker... almost all of my students took the project seriously!  They were not just coming up with the stereotypical easy answer of "Mom" or "Dad" (and I truly believe that the ones who did write that TRULY meant it), but they were coming up with real names of real people I had never heard of before.  Names which I could not put faces to, but who had changed these students' lives so much, they did not even think twice when asked to come up with one.  Wow!  What a great moment!  I was so truly very humbled and my bad attitude put to shame!  Someone had actually gotten through to these kids (not me), and it was a BEAUTIFUL thing!

So, when the kids left for lunch (more like brunch since it's at 10:33), I was in a much better mood... but it was STILL Thursday, so when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a kid walk into my recently-emptied room, I was prepared to snap at the 6th grader (a.k.a. my former 5th grader) who was interrupting my lunch period.  But, when I looked up, in was walking one of my favorite students from last year.  Some teachers will lie and tell you they don't have favorites... but we all do.  This girl was one of my favorites because she had a genuinely good heart and a work ethic that would put many adults to shame.  She always offered to help me or help others if she finished her work early.  She reads like she needs books to breathe, and she made me a picture of a hedgehog because she knew they are my favorite animals!  She also would share her stories with me because she knew I loved reading and writing!  Well, in walked this student, and her face lit up when I said, "Hi!"

"Hi, Mrs. Clark!" she beamed back at me!  "How are you?"

"Good!  How are you?"

"Good!  So... we did these lollipop things in Advisory today, and we had to write down the name of someone who had inspired us."

"Yeah, we did that, too!  Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah!  Well... I wrote down you... because you inspired me to write."

These are the moments you always imagine are going to be so numerous when you decide you want to become a teacher, but they soon become the moments you find to be, in reality, the rarest of all.  The moment when, in your desire to inspire all the kids of the world, you find one kid who inspires you MORE than you could have ever hoped to inspire them!

I was SPEECHLESS, which is truly miraculous if you know me!  All I could muster out were a few words of thanks before I started to choke up and asked her if I could give her a hug!

She said yes, and as I held back tears and gave this little girl a hug, I told her that she inspired me, too.  I told her someday, we could buy each others' books and give each other our autographs!  We both agreed that that sounded like fun.  As she walked away, it was all I could do to wait until she left before I began to sob... and I mean SOB.

I was so determined to find everything wrong with today.  I was so determined the world was out to get me.  I was so determined that things could not possibly go right for me because, after all, it was Thursday.  But God appears at the times and places you need Him the most, and today, He appeared in the eyes of a little girl who reminded me that what I do DOES make a difference.  Even if most days, I feel like I am talking to a brick wall.  Even if most days, I have to listen to people bad mouth my profession and tell me how overpaid I am.  Even if most days, I come home and wonder why I do this day after after.  THIS is why I teach.  SHE is why I teach.  I may be a small, small fish in a very large pond, but today, she made me feel like I could rule the seas!  Today, I didn't just discover that I gave her a Lollipop Moment; I also realized that she gave me one of my own... and what a truly sweet moment it was!  Today, this realistic pessimist found her glass to be not only full, but overflowing!

Imagine that!  And on a Thursday, no less!

Source: pinterest.com via Kate on Pinterest

"Begin at the Beginning..." --Lewis Carroll

So... here it is... my first official blog post! :)

Well... actually... once upon a time I had a Xanga account (circa 2005-2007).  Perhaps someday I will need to dust it off, and share some of my old posts over here.  At the very least, I'm sure my idea of blogging during my college years would be quite entertaining for all of you... or... at least, me!  But, that is another story for another blog post!  So much has changed since college... *sighs*... and almost every last bit of it has been FOR THE BETTER (to put it mildly)!

However, there's one thing that has not changed since college... actually, it hasn't changed since about 4th-6th grade:  I LOVE TO WRITE!  My love of writing was perhaps first ignited when I won 2nd place in a poetry contest for writing an acrostic poem about Sea Horses in 4th grade.  I think I won a dollar and a red ribbon for my pains.

Source: via Emily on Pinterest

"Dollah, dollah bill, yo!"

I felt like I was the coolest kid in town... especially since I did not even realize the poems were being judged.  Although, my surprise victory soon turned to pompousness when I read the 1st-prize-winning poem and thought to myself, "Pfft!  It doesn't even rhyme!"  Of course, this was back in the day when I thought all poems simply MUST rhyme... except for acrostic poems about Sea Horses that is... FACT:  THEY did NOT have to rhyme.

Anyway, after that first bite from the writing bug, I became intrigued to say the least, but the itch did not fully set in until sixth grade when I discovered that writing was an extremely effective (and FREE) form of therapy!  And... I have been writing ever since... albeit, much more sporadically these days.  You see, now that I'm kind of a grown-up and all, society kind of expects me to have this thing called a J-O-B (a three-letter swear word, if you ask me), so it leaves very little time to indulge in leisurely pastimes.

Source: someecards.com via Katharine on Pinterest

So, over the course of the past several years of almost non-existent writing, I have felt a tremendous void in my life!  Where had my passion gone!  I NEEDED to get back into my writing... not only for the sake of my own sanity (this IS my free version of therapy, after all), but also, for the sake of the sanity of those around me, as, when I cannot express my emotions freely, I tend to get a bit wacky/crabby.

However, I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that what my high school English teacher had once said was probably true.  I had told her that I wanted to become a teacher because, not only did I LOVE to learn, but I would have summers/holidays off to write (and be a mommy... someday)!  I thought I had it ALL planned out.  Then she responded by saying, "Yeah, that's what I used to think, too!  I always thought I would use my summers to write, and then, life and family happened."  That's a paraphrase, of course, but you get the idea:  dreams crushed!  But, I was determined!  I WOULD prove her wrong... I WOULD have my cake and eat it, too!  And... almost 10 years since that conversation... she seemed to be absolutely, disappointingly correct. :-(  I had always had big plans to become a published writer and do something truly amazing with my life... live on in my written word... and then... LIFE HAPPENED!  *sighs*  I began to think that maybe my teacher had been right after all.  Maybe it was a fool's dream to think that I, little ol' Katharine, from Rural Town, Pennsylvania, could ever become a writer.

Then, inspiration came, at the time it was most needed, in the form of a friend's blog.  Let me introduce you to my amazing friend Kristin, whom I had met and befriended in college because we were both in the Elementary Education program at Penn State and we were both OBSESSED with The Office.  We also bonded over the fact that she is Kristin with two i's and I am Katharine with two a's, and lazy, dumb people are ALWAYS and FOREVER spelling our names wrong... even when they have the correct spelling right in front of their stupid faces!

Source: google.sk via Katharine on Pinterest

True Life

So, anyway, one day I noticed that Kristin was posting links on her Facebook page that led to her super, awesome, amazing, hysterical, deliciously sarcastic blog!  So, naturally, I started reading these posts and soon became an avid follower of her words!

Check her blog out here:

"Do it!  Now!" --in Arnold Schwarzenegger voice
Now, Kristin is also a full-time school teacher and full-time wife (an Army wife to be exact... she deserves some extra love for that!), so if she can make time to write a blog, what's my excuse, right?  RIGHT?!  Well, Kristin is a bit better at functioning as an adult than I am (she might argue to the contrary, but TRUST ME, she is!), so she gives me something to aspire to!  She cooks, she bakes, she teaches, she blogs, she crafts, SHE DOES IT ALL!  And most of all... SHE INSPIRES ME, EVERY DAY!  It is thanks to her encouragement (and the encouragement of several other awesome friends) that I decided that, not only COULD I blog, but I HAD to blog.  Writing is in my DNA!  Not that I'm the greatest writer, or the most interesting writer, but I am a writer who needs her writing to provide some sort of outlet/connection to the world around her!  So... blogging it is!
Now, I have NO CLUE what this blog is or what it will become, and I truly apologize that this introductory post is so TERRIBLY long, but if you can bear with me, I can promise you one thing:  it will NOT be boring!  My life might not be the coolest or most exciting, but it is certainly far from boring either!  I've been told that I have a gift for storytelling, so I guess we will find out...

Maybe, starting this blog might even inspire me to finally begin writing that novel that's been hiding in the back of my brain for over a decade now... just maybe!  Perhaps I CAN have my cake and eat it, too (or, you know, work AND write if you want to be literal)... perhaps!  Anyway, it's worth a shot, right? So, thank you, Kristin, from the bottom of my heart!  Writing this first post has been very cathartic, so I can only imagine the true bliss that is to come from letting my thoughts flow freely and having a blogosphere of supporters (hopefully)!  And, to the rest of you reading this (all 3 or 4 of you... just kidding... maybe), thank you, too, for putting up with my ramblings and struggling to find some way to harvest some cheap entertainment from my cheap therapy!  TRULY AND SINCERELY!  THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME!  You make me feel like I might be able to fulfill my dream of becoming a writer yet.  Someday... someday... Until then, ENJOY! :-)

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest