SUBSTITUTE

Thursday and Friday was my very first experience substitute teaching.  I substituted for the classes I have been student teaching in- one Language Arts class and three math classes- all sixth grade.  I had not quite prepared myself for a day full of teaching.  May I just start out saying that teaching is the #1 underpaid and underestimated career?  I knew this before, but I think it would be impossible for anyone to truly understand the statement unless they, themselves realized the amount of work that goes into this career.  I love this quote because, maybe I'm biased, but it's completely true!

I think the reason why people underestimate elementary education teachers is because when people hear "elementary" they think we teach the difference between triangles, circles, and squares all day.  The truth is, almost EVERYTHING I teach, I need to research beforehand.  If you didn't major in the field of science, could you explain to someone what an isotope is?  Even then, try explaining it to students who need it put in simpler terms.  Sometimes it seems there isn't such a way!

But please, don't think for a second that teaching is the first part of being an educator.  Mediating behavioral issues is something that seems will take me years to master.  Don't worry, I won't complain about a single thing... Josh already got the butt of it all... (:

Instead, may I explain the following phrases I heard multiple times throughout each period of the day (and my responses to each, said ever so kindly in my mind):

• "Can I have a pencil?" (Literally, every 10 minutes)
• ...Does it look like I'm made of pencils!?

• **Whiny voice: "teacherrrrrr, he won't stop ________!!!"  
• ...I'm a teacher, not a babysitter.

• "Can I go to the bathroom?"
•  ...No, because you just went 10 minutes ago and you're just going to skip class.

• "Can I get a sip of water?"
• ....There's a water fountain in our room.

• "We have SOOOO MUCH HOMEWORRRRK!"
• ....No you don't.  Your life is not over, preteen.  

•  **After being told to stop: "I'm not doing anything!!!/What was I doing???"
• ....You're right, I just told you to stop because I like the word.

Now, one may think by my answers that I am a horrible person.  Sorry, I'm only human- I am also sarcastic- not to the students, but for my own entertainment.  Don't get me wrong- I love teaching.

And despite the craziness of Thursday and Friday, there is a happily ever after.  On Friday, the last comment a tender little quiet student told me today was:

You're a great math teacher!

A Healthy Lifestyle

Alright, can I just come out and say the issue with blogging is that sometimes you worry so much about one of two things: 1) offending others 2) how you will be viewed by others.  Am I right?

I am going to try to set aside these things- especially number two, and get down to the nitty gritty.  I wanted to make a post that will hold me accountable for accomplishing one of my New Year's Resolutions which is to live a healthy lifestyle.  In girl language this might mean "lose weight," but I hate the negative connotation that is attached to that phrase.  To me, living a healthy lifestyle is much more than cutting weight- it's becoming strong and taking control of one's self.  So, instead of facing the dreaded scale each week, I am going to focus my time towards making meals with more natural ingredients and continuing my workout regime- with a little twist (as you will see later). I'm not going near a scale because we have had a horrible history together!  With a scale, instead of focusing on how I feel, I focus on numbers. I have found that numbers don't really motivate me- my emotional and physical health cannot be weighed by a scale.

Now, I will have to be patient- which is not my strong suit. I am not looking to lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days, I am simply looking to revamp the role food plays in my life.  And hopefully once this lifestyle is incorporated into my everyday life, I can help instill it in my future children.  I love the phrase "Don't live to eat... eat to live."  I have to remind myself of this quite often.  Although I believe this process will take longer than past attempts, I feel that it will be more gratifying if I focus on how I feel rather than the numbers.  So, to start off on my goal I have done two things.

1. The app: myfitnesspal.  Anyone wanna be my friend?! I've just started and I don't have any.... haha! For those of you who do not know what it is- it's basically a way to track what you eat.  I used to do a journal because I found that it made me more accountable knowing what I ate, but it was SO much more work.  With this app, it has most of the foods already in the system, so all you have to do is click right on it!  Boom.  No reason to say you "don't know what you're eating."

2. New workouts!  I'm more excited about this one, I have to say.  Although Josh and I go to the gym daily, I was in the habit of doing the same few workouts ALL year.  That's horrible!  I should have changed it up every few months because if workouts remain the same, the body gets too used to what it is doing.  So, to break my streak of simply having an upper body, lower body, and ab day, I will be doing several different workouts- thanks to Fitmiss!  I've been following them on instagram (@Iamfitmiss) because they post daily workouts.  What I've done is accumulated some of these workouts and I've put them into a little journal I can put into my gym bag.

So... why am I telling you this?  I need buddies with the same goal as me to tell me their strategies to succeed this year!  Also, I like spreading knowledge, so for those of you who feel that these could help- my job is done (:

For those of you who would like to know more specifics on how I'm organizing my little notebook of workouts- let me know! I can post them if you would like.

5 easy ways to make your hair LAST

Quite a few people have asked me how I keep my hair clean for more than a day.  People claim that their hair gets super greasy... and that they aren't able to go for more than a day without washing their hair.  While this is true, I believe many people haven't taken the measures to see what their hair can really do!  I have a few simple steps that I do to keep my hair lasting for a good three days.

1.  The first day of your clean hair, keep it pinned back so that it's not touching your face.  Sometimes I'll do a nice little poof or part my hair down the middle and pull the sides back.  By having your hair pulled back, it's not soaking up the oils from your face, which means that your hair won't get greasy so quickly.  Also, when it's pulled back, I've found that I'm not touching my hair to get it out of my face as much, therefore, not transferring the oils from my hands to my hair.

 This is a picture of day 3 without washing my hair... It might look weird in this picture because my roots are growing out- but hopefully you can tell that my hair still looks fresh!



2.  Try not to let the scalp of your hair rest against your significant other during the day/night time.  This sounds kind of weird, like I'm telling you not to cuddle, but of course there's plenty of different positions to rest your head!  I found that the majority of the time, I lay next to Josh and he rests his cheek on my head before we fall asleep.  No offense Josh, but the oils on your skin are transferring to my scalp- and I don't like it! haha. But really, it's the same concept as number 1.  The less opportunity for your hair to touch skin, whether it's your own or someone's, the longer your hair will last!



3.  Use that dry shampoo!  Before you go to sleep at night, spray dry shampoo on your part and the crown of your head.  By the morning, the existing grease on your hair should be soaked up and the shampoo will  either be completely gone, or still need a little rubbing in.  Be sure to spray the pieces right above your ears.  Those little whispies are notorious for soaking up oil.

4.  Shampoo twice.  Some may say... "What a waste!" but when you're shampooing twice so that your hair lasts twice as long, it evens out.  Plus, chances are, you're probably already using too much shampoo just for one wash.  Try using a little less the first time, and even less the second time.  You'll notice that your hair soaks up the second bit of shampoo a lot more than the first time.  The reasoning behind shampooing twice is here.



5.   When you workout, wear a headband!  Once again, keeping the hair out of your face and sweat will help your hair from soaking up unneeded sweat and oils from your face. 

A couple people asked which dry shampoo and shampoo/conditioner I use. Here are the links:

Suave dry shampoo
Loreal Shampoo/Conditioner

Any other questions? Feel free to ask!  I'm not a pro, but keeping hair happy and healthy has always been an interest of mine.  We can learn together (:

A Canadian Christmas

Aloha from Canada!  It's been such a blessing to spend time with Josh's family.  There's no better way to explain how wonderful it's been to spend the holidays in Brantford, Canada than to explain through pictures!

We arrived in the evening in Buffalo, New York.  It's much cheaper flying to New York instead of taking an international flight to Canada. 

The next day we went to go 5 pin bowling!  You will notice two things from the pictures directly below: 1) Josh always has better form than me 2) there are 5 pins.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be!  Sometimes the ball would go in between the pins so you still got a gutter.  This was the worst score I have ever gotten bowling.  Thanks, Canada.

The next day was Christmas Eve!  It's Josh's family tradition to go to his grandparents and spend time with family.  His grandparents have put on quite the light display.  People come from all over to see them!  They're even in magazines!  This is officially my claim to fame (; It was pretty funny though- when we came out of the house to go back home, a little girl said to her dad, "you can go inside?!" I wish I could have told her to because the inside is just as festive!

This has nothing to do with Christmas but I've always loved the entrance of their home.  They're all faces of famous people!  So, naturally, I needed to claim my spot.

 The only cat I will ever have... since Josh is deathly allergic.

 Josh's grandpa welded everything!

That night, we opened our jammies that Josh's parents get the family every Christmas Eve.  

Of course, this post would be incomplete without a proper photo of the beautiful tree.  By the way- Canadians LOVE to place everything in boxes before wrapping anything. Who knew?  Maybe it's a lazy American thing, maybe not..

The day after Christmas we hung out with Josh's other grandpa and side of the family!  Grandpa Hartford is HILARIOUS.

Then, we went to Niagra Falls!  May I say, it is much, much colder than the last time we went in the summer haha.

This is a long walkway people can go down during the summer... I guess you could try during the winter but I think you would DIE.

This is us in front of our favorite arcade: The Midway.  It's the largest arcade I've ever been to!!

 

For New Year's, we went to the dance that was put on for the Stake.  As you can tell... NO ONE WAS THERE!!! So sad... I guess Canadians like to do their own thang for the New Year.  This precious little girl asked Josh if he could get down one of the balloons that was up towards the ceiling.  I kid you not... everywhere we go, little kids come up to Josh.  He's more approachable than me, I guess!  He gets along with kids so well it makes me feel so optimistic about his future in being a pediatrician and father. 

We then headed home to watch the ball drop on t.v.  I had to post this picture- by no means do I look good, but Josh's face is priceless.  Sometimes I have no clue what's going inside his head.

Aaaaaaand, this is somewhat how our New Years kiss went.  For those of you who are not fans of PDA, I warn you...

The next day we hung out with Josh's best friends (and their significant others) from childhood.... awwwww... Can I just tell you how identical he and his friends are?  Personality-wise, of course haha. We played all the good ole' games from the high school days: Rockband and sports at the church!  As you can tell in this photo, all the Canadians look so natural holding their hockey sticks.  I'm over here like: OH HEY!

The last day, we went to play golf! And guess what- I'm so mad... I forgot the score sheet as proof that I FINALLY won a game!!! This never happens because Josh is always better than me at everything.. Which is fine, I find that very attractive.  After, we headed to his grandparents' for a final goodbye.

Going clockwise from the upper left-hand photo:

1) Sherry got a hole in one!

2) We are weird

3) We are fish

4) I got a hole in one!  As you can tell, Josh is ecstatic for me.

 

We had such a great time in Canada and I'm happy I got to know his family even better.  Now, back to reality.  It will be our last semester in Rexburg and we are excited to see where we are headed once Josh gets accepted to Med School! 

Refreshed

It's been a while since I've last posted.  I had a little rough patch the past couple months, and I wasn't sure how my posts would translate over since I was stuck in a little pity party! haha is that lame to admit?  ...I found it difficult to express myself because I didn't want others to feel as if they were involved in the situation when they were not.  Needless to say, things are getting better and I'm looking hopeful to the New Year!

Of course, we've all pondered on our New Years resolutions... Am I going to make them?  Should I not?  If I do, will I feel even worse about myself if I don't achieve them?!  I'm sad to say, I have not completely discovered my official goals.  I have some ideas but they are not on paper yet.  It's difficult to get that alone time (especially during the holidays, when I want to be with family) to really retrospect on the past year and who I am as a person, since these things will mold what I want to achieve for this year.

Something that quickly came to mind when I had a little bit of time was how I want to forgive those in my life that have hurt me.  Now, I don't have a sad story to tell, so don't worry, I won't get too close and personal.  But I realized that these same people came into my mind much too often.  Each time, I had a sense of frustration and anger inside myself.  I knew something had to change.  Of course, I don't like confrontation, so I'm not going to approach them, although we are in different states so it would have to be over email.  Either way, I used the approach that has worked for me in a past: write a letter to the person but don't send it.

In this letter, I said everything that I would want to say to them in person.  I expressed how I felt due to their actions and why I felt that way.  It felt wonderful to get these things off my chest!  I knew that if I continued to hold these things against these people for much longer, I hadn't completely forgiven them- as much as I wanted to tell myself I had.  If I hadn't forgiven them, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself and without this, how could I feel good about self-improvement?

I would feel unworthy.

So, as the typical "first post of the year" would usually focus on personal New Year's resolutions, this is one that is essentially the same thing.  In my mind, I have resolved these relationships, allowing myself to feel better.  No more negative thinking.  No more blaming.  No more looking on the past.

I now feel refreshed, refocused, and ready to conquer 2014! 

Just a cute little background story for those of you who would like to know: a couple weeks into dating Josh, I went to pick him up from the SLC airport- committed, right?!  We went to get Chinese and I got this fortune in my cookie. I know it's weird, but when I read it- I immediately thought about Josh proposing in the future.  As you know, he didn't propose then (I would have FREAKED OUT...) but I could completely see it happening.  Little did I know, a few months later, it would come true!

Anyway, while this fortune was a fun little one to receive, I think it's perfect to bring in the New Year!

A tempting proposal will soon present itself to you.  Are you going to take it?