ABC.... Easy as One, Two, Three!

I remember when the internet really started to pick up and be accessible to more and more people (at least in my small home town).  Once my friends and I all got our super cool and original-sounding Yahoo! or Hotmail accounts set up, we passed around gobs and gobs and gobs of surveys.  At one point, I thought it was the best way to "get to know" my boyfriend at the time and I peppered him with a variety of surveys so I could learn all about his inner thoughts and feeling.

So, I was home sick today and I was catching up on all my favorite blogs.  I moseyed on over to Life With the Hawleys, where my fantastic friend Darby writes about, well, everything!  Especially her two adorable pups.  I saw this here ABC's of Me and I was instantly transported back to endless hours answering inane questions and I got super excited.  What else am I going to do while I'm curled up on the couch, staying hydrated?  So here ya go, blog world, the ABC's of ME!

A. Age: 29

B. Bed size: King

C. Chore that you despise: Putting away clothes.  I love to fold them, but putting them away is the pits!

D. Dogs: Penny, 2 1/2 years old

E. Essential start to your day: Diet Coke

F. Favorite color: Green!  Any shade!  I love it!

G. Gold or silver: Silver

H. Height: 5' 5"

I. Instruments you play: French Horn, Piano

J. Job title: Substitute Teacher.... I'm in the midst of applying for teaching jobs so I can have my very own classroom!

K. Kids: On the way!  I'm knocked up, yo.

L. Live: Hampton, VA

M. Mother's name: Julia

N. Nicknames: Erino, Queen of Grace, Erin-Doodle

O. Overnight hospital stays: So far nothing!

P. Pet peeves: People who don't know when to use the correct "you're" or "your" and when they use 'text speak' for emails/fb statuses/anything, really.

Q. Quote from a movie: "You're killing me, Smalls!!!!"

R. Right or left-handed: Righty

S. Siblings: One younger sister, Leslie

T. Time you wake up: As late as I can possible sleep on any given day.

U. Underwear: Required.  At all times.  

V. Vegetable you despise: I love veggies.  However I really only like kale with some vinegar drizzled on top.

W. What makes you run late: My inability to get motivated in the morning.

X. X-rays you've had: Dental, and then CT and MRI, if they count.

Y. Yummy food: Cheese.  Potatoes.  Ice Cream.

Z. Zoo animal: I do like the big cats.  And elephants.

So there ya go.  The ABC's of me!  If you decide to do one, lemme know!  I love to learn about people! 

Win, Lose... Call it a Draw.

I decided I wanted to be fun, healthy, and creative for dinner tonight.  I had a hankering for crab cakes so that was a shoe-in for the center piece of the meal.  I had some strawberries on hand and on a whim bought some baby spinach to make a strawberry spinach salad.  And today at Target, I walked past some french bread in their bakery section that just seemed to bring it all together.  In my mind, I was a brillant chef, ready to prepare a wonderful dinner for my husband and myself to enjoy together.

Well.  The french bread was amazing.

Also amazing?  The strawberry spinach salad.  It was light and flavorful and my husband was amazed that I worked strawberries into a salad.  The dressing was superb.  I will upload a picture tomorrow when I can find the cable that connects my phone to the computer!

So two wins, dinner must be on a roll, yes?

No.

The crab cakes did not turn out.  Mainly because I thought I was so sure of my culinary abilities that I didn't follow a recipe, deciding that I could just 'wing' it and it would still be amazing.  I also used the wrong type of crab meat because I couldn't find canned lump crab meat at the grocery store and thought "eh, good enough" with the random crab meat that I bought.  Also, I think I used too many bread crumbs.  It was disappointing and we both just ate it as quickly as we could and focused on the salad and the bread.  And, thanks to the power of Facebook, I now have two new recipes from friends to follow the next time I attempt to make crab cakes!

Mmmm.... the bread.  I cannot stress enough how amazing the bread was.

So, like I said.  The salad, a win.  The crab cakes, a loss.  So dinner was a draw, but it still nice to sit down with my sweetie at the end of the day.

From The Mouths of Babes

I thought going two weeks without blogging was a long time.  Now I've gone over a month.  I blame my outrageous schedule, and there are a few other reasons that shall be outlined in a future blog.  But I have missed writing my thoughts down for the interwebs.  I have thought about some blog topics and ways to update my blog, but I've been remiss in adding them.  However, my dear friend begged me to update, so I'm updating.  Thanks for the kick in the rear, L!

My amazing friend Fazawesome once suggested that in addition to thoughts about  my dog and weight loss, I should include cute things my students say.  During my student teaching placement, I collected a few of my favorite gems and I am FINALLY getting around to posting them.  Enjoy!

During my 4th grade Student Teaching placement:
I loved my 4th graders.  They were wonderful.  However, my girls were so fidgety and several of them were members of a local cheerleading team.  They would not stop doing cheers in the lunch line, which inevitably caused me to get ugly looks from the cafeteria ladies.  One day, the food line was exceptionally backed up and one of my little darlings was clapping, turning around to talk to people, and just all around out of control.  I asked her to please stand still, adding "you must have the wiggle worms today."  Without missing a beat, she looked at me, crossed her arms, and very tersely informed me "I do not have the wiggle worms, I have ADHD".  Oh.  I see.

During my 2nd grade Student Teaching placement:
I was pretty in love with my second graders too.  One girl particularly stole my heart.  On my very first day, my Cooperating Teacher had written on the door "Go introduce yourself to the student teacher".  This little girl was the only student who came up to me.  She shook my hand, said "My name is T-, but no one can ever spell it correctly."  I had a lovely little conversation with her.  One day, I had gotten up early and on a whim, straightened my hair and put on a little make up.  I sat with the students that day at lunch, and this little girl stared at me intensely, and finally demanded why I put make up on.  I replied that I just had extra time and felt like a little make up and she told me "You don't need make-up, you're perfect the way you are."  It wasn't the funniest thing I heard from the second graders, but it made me feel so good and just brightened my whole day.  What a smart little girl.

I also had an amazing autistic boy in my 2nd grade class.  He had 3 or 4 older sisters, so he picked up things from them and would repeat them, not knowing what they meant.  He made me smile almost daily.  One day I was teaching a unit about the states of matter.  In 2nd grade, they learn about solids, liquid, and gases.  We did an activity to talk about characteristics of gases, and it involved them writing down what they knew about gases.  He wrote one sentence describing what a gas was.  Then he concluded with "Water is not a gas.  Water is for sharks."  This made me laugh hysterically for days on end, to the point that I asked him if I could keep it for my portfolio.  Fortunately, he obliged, so I have this nugget to keep with me forever and ever.

Once I get my own classroom, I expect that I will keep a notepad around, just to record the things they say.  It's amazing what comes out of the mouths of babes.  It adds a fun layer into the crazy daily life of a teacher.