Where have I been?
Just about everywhere. I went to visit Chris' over President's Day weekend, Evansville to meet up with some school friends and home.
I wish I stayed more on top of blogging. I always feel like within those first few weeks after a post, I don't have much to say and then before I know it, months have passed. Recently, even though I have things to talk about, I've been pretty busy. I signed up to take one of my certification tests, which is a week from today. It's the teaching test and since I didn't go to school in Illinois, I was really worried that I might not have been exposed to everything I should have. I bought a study guide and made a study plan. I've not followed it very well. I have about 160 pages left and exactly a week. Completely doable, but I have no motivation for it. I took a practice test today and did well. Some of the information I recognized from the study guide, so I guess I'll continue to study.
I don't read as much because if I read, I feel like that's time that should be spent studying. So do I study instead? No, I just waste time watching tv or wandering around facebook. It reminds me of what I used to do in college when there was a class I didn't enjoy reading for. Instead of doing something I knew I'd enjoy, I just let the time slip away.
Chris' Borders is closing, while this makes me sad, we've really cleaned up. We spent about 2 hours (about an hour in line) there when I visited. Things were only 20% off but you'd think everything was $2 with the amount of people that were there. I only bought things that were marked down before the 20% off so I continued to be a bargain shopper. I left Chris with a list of books for both my mom and me. He goes back now and then to check the markdowns and increase my already oversized collection of books. I'm getting ever closer to needing a library the size of Belle's in Beauty and the Beast.
Evansville was tons of fun and I got to meet up with some sisters that I don't have as much time to stay in contact with because we all lead busy lives and most of them are still in school. There were some dinner dates, some shopping and lots and lots of talking! It was really great to see them again, but it also made me realize that I'm fairly lonely in Jacksonville. Normally I don't mind, I have a lot of time to myself. But it's always nice to see some familiar faces.
Home was wonderful as always! I got to spend a lot of time with Mom, Julie and the kids. I really miss seeing the kids often, but besides the summers, I guess it's fairly normal.
I've started running again. It's not going as well as I had anticipated and I guess I'm more out of shape than I thought, but I'm improving a little bit every day. I didn't run very far today because it was 80 degrees outside, but I'm planning to try again when it starts to cool off in about an hour or so. I normally run a small lap around part of my neighborhood that is a half mile. I like it a lot more than running one big lap because I'm always close to home.
Easter is coming up! That might be one of my favorite holidays because it's normally warm and there's always the egg cracking competition to look forward to on Dad's side. I came in 2nd last year. I've never been so close to winning. Maybe this year is my year! Also, I'm soooo excited to meet baby Ava! My cousin Sarah lives in Denver and Ava was born at the end of December, so I have yet to meet her. Unfortunately, Chris and I will be spending Easter apart because Brandon and Alex will both be home from school, so he doesn't want to miss out on sibling time. All three of them are currently in Evansville this weekend to celebrate Brandon's 21st birthday tomorrow! I'm a bit jealous.
The weekend following Easter I have a trip planned to go north and Chris and I plan to go to Chicago and spend a day downtown because I have some train tickets that expire at the end of May. We haven't figured out what we're going to do yet, but I'm sure we'll find something fun.
There's only about a month and a half left of school. I'm definitely getting ready for my 3 month vacation. The kids are becoming less and less attentive and even good kids are starting to slack. It's discouraging to watch it happening. I had a student ask the other day if we could have a countdown on the board of how many days are left of the school year. I said no because I feel like if they're constantly reminded by how many days we have left, the faster they will continue to check out. I'm doing all I can to slow down the process, but I don't really think it's working.
My Psych kids are excited to watch A Beautiful Mind. I'm also planning to show clips from Scrubs and The Office that have some connections to what we'll be studying. I was shocked when I told them this and a student actually complained. He said he would much rather watch documentaries and see real people and real stories. Knowing that, I'm going to try to find some more scientific things to show as well.
That's all I've got for now, but I promise to return soon :)
*Besos*
