Helloooo again...

It has definitely been a while.  Second year of teaching has far surpassed first year of teaching in stress overload.  I really set the bar high for myself this year, and I've been teaching a new class, so it has been kicking my butt for 10 months.  Nevertheless, I am seeing that light at the end of this tunnel, and baby it looks good!

Anyway, due to my workload, many of my "projects" since August have been creating materials for my classroom that are, frankly, not something I should really be doing for this salary.  The time, thought, etc., that has gone into them just was a bit overboard.  For that reason, I am officially going to try to go the route of textbook development/design, which will still involve me teaching for a few more years.  I'm going to start with some graphic design classes this summer (it has been quite a while since my last one), and perhaps some type of editing.  I have the education background, and I've been essentially developing my own curriculum--in some cases for lack of organization of the existing curriculum, in others because the textbook materials are not based on current research.  So there!  I'm extremely excited about getting back in some art classes!  Considering a ceramics class too :)

I have, of course, found some time for projects along the way this year.  Jeff and I moved in December to a much more awesome abode, which left a bit more space for a few new pieces of furniture.  I rarely buy new furniture, so here is the stereo/record cabinet we bought:

We got it for dirt cheap at a thrift store.  Someone had removed the old stereo--though we're not sure if they wanted the stereo itself and not the cabinet or wanted to put a different stereo inside it.  It was strange.  Anyway, we were very happy with the situation because we had a vintage stereo/turntable/speakers that had no home.  It was a surprisingly difficult project (they really used to make furniture well!), but it turned out amazingly well:

We are quite pleased with it!

And also, we found ourselves in need of a hutch of some sort to store all the dishes/barware we got for wedding gifts (2 years ago, yikes), so we found a delightful piece with an undesirable paint job at a different thrift store just days later.  We had to sand it:

Added some much-needed wood glue:

Then a few coats of semi-gloss black, and here she is (not a great quality photo, unfortunately):

That's all for now.  I hope to update more often now that school is about to end for a little while.

Babies are Fun to Make Stuff for

A friend of mine had a baby, so I made a little gift for him.  First, a card of congratulations for mom and pop:

And for the wee man, a delightful little owl bib.  I want to make a punny owl joke here, but I'm going to resist.  They're all over-the-top.

How sweet is that kid???

Not ready for a mini-me yet, but I do want all of my friends to have kids so I can make cute stuff for them.  Why do babies look so adorable in animal-inspired anything?

New Goals

I'm currently working on a few new goals:

1. Crafting - I plan to "open" my Etsy shop as soon as I can, and I have a goal of making at least $500 in the next year by selling hand-made items.  I will post when the store is officially open.
2. Fitness - I'm currently working to lose some weight (already 5 pounds down!) and stay a bit more healthy--possibly even run a half-marathon in November.  Would say "definitely" instead of "possibly," but I am having some foot pain that is not good.
3. Finances - We're saving money this year for a house. I do not look forward to the lean budget, but if it means we can do whatever we want to our place and it add value to our own property instead of someone else's, I can handle it for a year.
4. Teaching - I want to have the first 6-weeks term planned, created, and copied before school starts.  For both classes I'm teaching.  Ambitious, but possible.  And so worth it.

That's all.  Sort of.

I just have to say, also, I find it amazing how mothers know everything.  I love and hate it at the same time.  My mother is great, and I appreciate when she surprises me with wisdom about things I never knew life would throw at me.  I'm a lucky daughter.

Becoming a Better Teacher

I recently went to the AVID Summer Institute in Dallas.  AVID is (as most things I've encountered since moving to Texas) an acronym, and it stands for "Advancement Via Individual Determination."  It's a great program for those middle-of-the road students who, with adequate support, could be A or B students.  This year marks the 30th year of the program, and it is an achievement worth celebrating.

I must say, in learning more about AVID, I wasn't surprised by any of the activities, really.  I even knew of the research they stemmed from and could see that in how they were structured.  I do, however, think AVID is one of the best systems I've seen for disseminating effective, research-based activities and systems to the population of practicing teachers.  One issue I've noticed, specifically in the field of foreign language education, is the gulf between the body of researchers and those who are actually doing the teaching in our schools.  AVID has expanded to have specific "strands" for subject areas; you learn with other teachers of your subject how to implement AVID strategies in your classroom (i.e., teaching note-taking, levels of questioning, and utilizing graphic organizers, etc.).  Essentially, I spent 4 hours a day for a week with other foreign language teachers learning about these activities and even practicing them as a group.  And what an experience it was to network and discuss with other educators.

I'll be teaching Spanish I again next year, but adding Spanish II to the mix.  I look forward to the coming school year, but I must say I'm getting a little tense about having activities and such ready for the start of term.  As of about July 20, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in my classroom preparing things.  I just have to move and pass a certification test between now and then.  Wonderful.

on completing a year of marriage

Jeff and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and it was a wonderful day. We took a long hike with our dog,

...spent the afternoon watching a movie and napping, made dinner together (spicy crawfish alfredo with asparagus; also, the top layer of our cake froze well and was delicious!),

...and then got out paper and glue sticks and made each other cards for our paper anniversary. It was delightful, and I wouldn't change a thing about it!

Despite all the horror stories about the first year of marriage, we have both thoroughly enjoyed this year. In many senses we realize that it has been the hardest for us--I've been in my first year of teaching (whew!) and Jeff has been finishing up a second degree, so our income hasn't been stellar, but we've really pulled together and found ways to enjoy life on the cheap. Having a dog has actually helped us in that regard, oddly enough.  Here's a picture from a recent camping trip...

We look forward to our second year of marriage, which we also know will have its own joys and challenges.  Jeff will begin his PhD in Physics at UT in the fall, and I will be teaching both Spanish I and Spanish II.  We're hoping to save enough money in just one year to be able to buy a house and stop throwing away money on rent; between Jeff's income from being a student (science is where the money's at) and me not having to pay my Alternate Certification Program obscene monthly payments, our budget will be just right to save to buy a nice place, hopefully.  Keep your fingers crossed ;)

School Fun

Teaching has some pretty awesome perks, a few of which you'll never find a match for in other fields. My favorite of these is most certainly student doodles. I recall spending an entire class period doodling at times, simply because it actually helped me focus. I even told some of my teachers that because I was afraid they would think I was rude. I have started taking pictures of my students' doodles, and at this point I have accumulated quite a collection...

The Mutant looking octopus :[

The elaborate...anime warrior-ess?

A collection of lyrics:

An elaborate athlete:

A reference to the mustache I sometimes wear while I greet students in the hallway between classes:

And my personal favorite that I would love to have made into a T-shirt, the I ♥ Spanish Octopus:

Awesome.

Saturday Project - New Deluxe Doggie Bed

My dog has a terrible habit of chewing his bedding, which Jeff and I have found impossible to break--mainly because he never does it at night, but rather only when we are gone during the day. We typically leave him a treat-and-peanut-butter-filled Kong and several toys in his crate when we leave, but his go-to is his bedding, for some reason.

We started by buying him reasonably-priced ($30-$40) doggie beds, and it became a trend that we would come home (sometime after a short trip to the grocery store) to find Tanner nestled in a pile of fluff, a deflated fabric shell shoved to the side. After he chewed through 4 beds, we decided to get him a couple of pillows and a comforter from the thrift store--all for the low price of $10. ...And of these three items, one died for each of the three consecutive days following their arrival to maison du Tanner. We finally bought one last bed and were only putting it in his crate during the night, which we decided was our best solution to the problem. We continued that way for a few weeks successfully...until Jeff forgot to take the bed out one day. Without fail, it was destroyed when we returned.

Because I am my mother's child, I saved the batting from each of Tanner's casualties, and we've had about 6 garbage bags of batting stuffed into our guest room closet for quite a while. For my Saturday Project, yesterday I broke down and made a bed for Tanner out of some scrap fabric and 3 bags of the old batting:

He wasn't sure about it at first because it is extremely thick and fluffy; I think he was afraid he would fall off :) But he got settled in before long...
And it fits perfectly in his crate! Problem solved! Hurray for Saturday projects!

So far Tanner has slept happily on it for one night...although there was a button missing this morning...who knows where we'll find it. And hopefully I won't have to replace all of them. We'll see how this goes.