Monthly Archives: December 2011

Dec31

2011 Reflection

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2011 Reflection

Getting to the end of another year is bittersweet. While I am enormously grateful for all the things I have learned and experienced in the past year, it’s always amazing to me how time flies by. Wasn’t it just last week I was finishing up finals in college? And just a little before that, finishing high school? Good old nostalgia.

So, looking back at this year in a glance, here are some of the highlights:

January: I was still enjoying teaching in my new school. The “honeymoon phase” was almost over, but not quite.

February: The dogs got to experience a Texas snow day. And what’s not to love about watching dogs who are pansies in the normal wet stuff try and figure out how to navigate FROZEN WHITE wet stuff?!

March: brought one of my favorite holidays, Spring Break, and I learned how to make my first quilt… which I really will finish, one of these days!

April: School spirit abruptly changed as several people found out they would be losing jobs and that budget cuts were going to cause dramatic changes for the upcoming year (Thanks again for supporting Texas public education, Rick Perry. I’m sure you’d do even better over the nation.)

On a much happier note, Jared and I celebrated our 4th anniversary where he stole me away from work for a few days and we went to Fredericksburg, Texas and hiked at a local park, Enchanted Rock.

May: Jared got to celebrate his birthday in style, which unfortunately (for me) included getting his Ninja 636 bike. We also had a lovely visit from his grandparents, whom we hadn’t seen in years. We had a great time visiting the Lady Bird Wildflower Center.

June: I had a wonderful opportunity to be involved with the Central Texas Writing Project. I learned a lot, had a chance to practice my writing more than I’ve had a reason to for years, and found strength to attempt another year of teaching 7th grade. Most importantly, I met some incredible, inspiring people that I connected with at a professional and personal level, which forever changed me.

July: was my down month (sort of). I had the chance to attempt some art projects, read some books, and squeezed in helping my district’s Young Writers Camp for a week.

August: Jared threw me a surprise party for my birthday, which made me feel like a princess. Just another reminder of how grateful I am for having him in my life. I also started my fourth year of teaching 7th grade, which was probably a bit of a mistake, looking back at the feelings of anxiety and discomfort I had been experiencing leading up to that moment. Hindsight now is 20/20.

September: We finally received rain. That deserves honorable mention because we had the worst drought recorded in Texas history. And my garden that I planted actually survived through it mostly intact enough for me to get a few things from it. I got a much needed new cell phone, which I have had a lot of fun with since. (How did people do it without cell phones? They are such amazing devices!)

Best of all, Jared’s work rented out a local theme park and we got another weekend away. Gotta love being spoiled like that.

October: Jared crashed his motorcycle on a race track during a track day, and fortunately, didn’t get hurt. While this isn’t exactly a “positive” highlight, as a wife, I can appreciate his safety a lot more than his need for speed. So while he was understandably upset about the whole situation, and I was sad for him, I was also not-so-secretly glad that he no longer had easy access to a dangerous vehicle.

R.I.P., no-longer-so-pretty blue bike.

November: Getting to see family and friends, some whom we had not seen in years, in Utah was a treat. More importantly, it did not snow while we were there, which meant we didn’t freeze to death! (Just kidding- seeing family was more important. Promise.)

December: is my favorite month. There’s just something about the holiday season that generally makes people kinder, and our world needs more of it. I got to spoil Jared for Christmas, which was fantastic, because I can’t usually surprise him like that. We were also lucky enough to sell the rest of his motorcycle gear for a pretty decent price. We also have had two weeks off from work and have just spent time with each other– and amazingly, we aren’t sick of each other yet! I love this guy so much.

All in all, I’ve learned a lot of important lessons in 2011, many of which I probably shouldn’t discuss in length on here. However, I can say that 2012 will be the biggest year yet! Major changes are in store, which I will discuss at length as things unfold in the near and far future. 🙂

Goodbye, 2011! You were good, but I’m welcoming 2012 with open arms.

Dec17

The Bonsta Monsta

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The Bonsta Monsta

Don’t let this cute little pose fool you.

This dog has a wicked streak to her.

In the past week, she is on her third collar. This little 11 pounder has a vicious chewing habit, and it’s not the first time that she has destroyed items before. Actually, collars are some of the cheaper things she’s managed to get a hold of and destroyed, so I guess we should be counting our blessings, right?

So we decided that if we got a collar that fit her personality a little better, we might get it to last a little longer. This time, it was “Daddy’s” choice:

Definitely more appropriate for this little slice of terror, don’t you think? 🙂

Dec10

Holiday Ducks

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Holiday Ducks

I love this time of year. It’s my most favorite. There’s something about Christmas time that makes everyone generally just a little bit nicer (well, most people, anyway).

As I was decorating our house this past week, I came across this:

A student gave this to me two years ago at Christmas. This particular student stood out for two reasons. First, in a year filled with a rough group of kids (seriously, lots of them had some serious attitude and behavioral problems), she was one of the few sweet ones who wanted to do well. Secondly, she was obsessed with ducks. Her folders, binders, and notebooks were covered in ducks. If she doodled on her homework assignment, you knew it was her even if she forgot to write her name on it. 🙂 And she had the craziest collection of rubber duckies. Ducks of all colors, animal types, holiday types… You think of a rubber ducky out there and she’s got it. Somewhere around my house or classroom I have a tiger-duck that she gave me when I told her that was my favorite animal.

Anyways, I guess this stands out to me this year in particular because it’s been the roughest year of my teaching career. With the drastic changes and little support from admin, district, and parents alike, most days threaten to crush me. But when I look at something simple like this, I remember the students that are doing everything right. The ones who do always do their homework, and come to class with a great attitude, and even thank me as they leave the classroom for teaching them. The ones who are consistently honest, good, sweet kids. And those are the ones that help me power through when I feel like I can’t do anymore.

So this year, I put this little duck on the mantle. I know Jared thinks it is a little tacky, but whenever I see it, I have to smile at the memories.

And let’s face it. This year, I need to find more reasons than usual to help me smile.

Dec6

Heart the Jicama

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Heart the Jicama

So, weather in Texas has taken a fairly drastic turn recently. The days of 100+ weather is long gone. And FINALLY, my little garden was producing.

But tonight, we could get down to 26 degrees. Even though I am sicker than a dog, I know that there’s no chance what little has made it this far would make it past tonight. So what do I do? I go outside and start salvaging what’s left.

One of my more adventurous attempts this year was planting jicama. It’s a root vegetable, but has a sweetness to it. One of our friends used to use it in his Indian potlucks- he would make a fabulous salad with a peanut sauce- and it was fabulous. So when I saw it at Home Depot as a starter plant, I figured, “What the heck?”

Note: I planted it back in April. Jicama doesn’t usually get harvested until December. That’s a huge chunk of time before harvesting, so that made me pretty worried. After such a crazy summer, what could I expect when it was all said and done?

After digging it out of the earth and washing the dirt off, this is what I saw:

Feel free to interpret as you will, but I’m interpreting this as a happy sign from the cosmos. 🙂

Dec6

Nearing the Breaking Point

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Nearing the Breaking Point

It’s been a while since I posted last. And it’s probably for a good reason, too. Mentally, I haven’t been in a good place this year, as hard as I have tried to make it seem differently. Both work and health have been seriously tearing me down (and I think work might be tearing into my health as well!) But mainly, I want this to be a place where I can focus on the more positive things going on in life. Hence, my silence here.

November was definitely a hard month, but I am so grateful for Jared’s support. I often wonder how I was ever so lucky to deserve him as my partner. Despite all the difficult things I have been going through, he’s always wanted me to do whatever would make me happiest. Always building me up, never berating me for the tough things going on. And that support I’ve needed so desperately lately.

Another highlight of November was visiting family in Utah over Thanksgiving. We were surprisingly lucky, as the weather was pretty mild and we didn’t run into any snow (for me, that’s completely a good thing–you can grow up in a place that has lots of snow over winter and see how you feel about it and get back to me later). And despite me not feeling well, it was great to see family and friends and share exciting going-ons in each others’ lives.

Moments like those help pull you back from the breaking points and return you to a more sane place.

And last but not least, this is one of the best places in the world, and I got to see it again when visiting Utah. I love the natural beauty of this mountain. And it was on a back road on this very mountain that Jared proposed to me over five years ago. It holds a special place in my heart.