One Who Tries

So I haven't really blogged at all about working out but this is supposed to be partly about being healthy so I think it's time.  I went to Gold's Gym with one of my best girls, Kari!  Here's a picture of us!

We had just run the Packers 5k together with George! (she's a HUGE Duke fan!)  :)

I don't take pictures while working out.  I just am too sweaty and honestly, too involved in working out.  I don't want to have to stop in between sets or while running to take a picture.  But, I do (sort of) remember what I did.  Kari and I ran on the elliptical, me for 2.5 miles.  Kari is a new member of the gym so she's a little shy on what to do.  I've been going to gyms for awhile now so I tried to show her some of the things she can do.


She had only a little time before she had to leave for work but she wanted to try out some of the machines.  We did a few leg machines and then she left.  She works every day so she's such a trooper for going in and working out!  I mean, seriously, the woman never gets a day off.  Now, onto what I do!


I love Free Motion machines.  I went to the row machine and stood up instead of sit.  I put the weights on 30 lbs and got into a squat.  I held the squat position and did rows, 3 sets of 20.  I then went to a hamstring machine but only did 2 sets of 10 on each leg.  I didn't think it worked well.

  found here

Next is my best part.  I love using Bosu balls in workouts.  When we lived in LA, George and I had a trainer who loved using them.  I grabbed a Bosu ball and flipped it so the ball side is up.  I then grabbed an 8 lb. weighted ball and held it at a 45 degree angle.  I stepped onto the Bosu and did squats on the Bosu holding my weighted ball.  I did 20 and then hopped off.  I then laid on a mat and grabbed a regular balance ball and held my knees up at a 90 degree angle.  I put the ball on the "shelf" and laid my arms back over my head.  I raised them up, grabbed the ball, held it in an arc over my head until it almost reached the floor, then raised it back up and put it on the shelf.  That counts as 1.  I did that 20 times.  Those two workouts were one set for me.  I did those three times.

found here

Now, after I completed my first set of Bosu ball exercises, a wanna be gorilla came sauntering over.  He surveyed me doing my exercise on the Bosu and then decided he could do the same.  He walked into the classroom where extra Bosus are held and came out with one.  He jumped on it with a huge 35 lb. barbell plate and started doing squats.  I don't mean to brag, but these Bosu workouts are tough.  It took me a LONG time to be able to do them without falling all over the place.  But this guy, well, he just thought he could do it.  It was all I could do to not laugh as he's wobbling all over the place with this extreme look of concentration and consternation on his face!  Also, he was doing squats totally wrong.  Your knees aren't supposed to go over your toes, right?  Yeah, he would go down so low that his knees were almost past the Bosu's edge and his butt was about 7 inches above his shoes!  Come on.


So, after his first attempt, (he did about 10) he got off and did four ab reps with an ab slide and about 5 push ups and sat there, looking exhausted.  He kept staring at the Bosu and would watch me every time I got back on.  Feeling empowered (?), he took his shoes OFF and tried it again!  Way to really lose your footing!  I know I shouldn't laugh, and I should've probably helped, but really.  He repeated his mini-workout after that and then put his shoes back on for round 3!  I about died but was starting to admire his persistence.  He left after that to walk around the gym.


My last workout with the Bosu ball was burpies.  You grab the hard side of the Bosu ball so the ball is down, squat, and stand, lifting the Bosu over your head.  In that same arcing motion, put it on the ground.  As soon as it hits the ground, jump back into push up mode and do a push up.  That's one!  Jump back to a squat, lift over head, repeat.  I did 3 sets of 10 for those.  They're very hard!


As a finisher, I ran for 1 mile on the treadmill.  Nothing too crazy but I definitely felt good afterwards!  Good luck on any of your work out endeavors!

Artwork and Classroom

Hello!  Well, I finally have accomplished some art projects.  Two are almost finished and one is completely done.  We'll go to the undone ones first!


Project 1:  Hot/Cold Lunch, Chocolate/White/No Milk


Every day, first thing in the morning, I have to take attendance and figure out which students are taking hot lunch or cold lunch.  I also need to figure out, by snack time, which kind of milk students would like, chocolate, white, or none at all so my helpers know how many of which kind to get.  Now, last year there was a metal cabinet in my room so we used milk sticks with each student's name on to figure out what milk they wanted.  We still, however, had to raise hands and count how many wanted hot lunch.  Every morning this wasted a bunch of time and class always started 15 minutes after the bell!  Crazy.  So, now that I have my own room this year (I co-taught last year and didn't get hired until after the first couple days of school) I had to come up with a new idea as my room is sans metal cabinet.  So here's what I did!

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought an old, shabby chic type of frame.  (All frames were half off!  Whoo!)  Using old string from my parent's house, I stapled it so it divided the frame into six sections.  I then strung red and blue yarn through the top row and bottom row.  I first tied the yarn into a double know and then into a bow to make it look prettier.  I stapled it also right before I strung it across.  I double knotted it around each white string and also super glued them there (they kept sliding down).  I tied and stapled the opposite end as well.  

Now when students come in, they'll grab their clothespin (each one will have a name and picture attached to it) and put it in the section they want.  I have to make the labels yet but the top left will be Hot Lunch and Chocolate Milk, the middle will be Hot Lunch and No Milk, and the top right will be Hot Lunch and White Milk.  The bottom will mirror the top except with Cold Lunch instead.  Hopefully this speeds things up!  Then I'll have a helper count the hot lunches and give me the number and they can look for themselves to count the chocolate and white milks.  :)

Project 2:  Book Corner Monsters!

I saw this idea on Pinterest at first and followed it to this wonderful blog called I Could Make That.  The directions for these little guys are here.  I thought they were SO cute I decided I'm going to make one for each student to start the year off with!  Hopefully that will be an added incentive to read, they get to use their monsters!  Now, first off, I'm new-ish to this whole craft business.  My mom is super crafty but I'm still getting my feet wet.  So, I had to buy all the paper:  plain cardstock, pretty lighter weight paper, and construction paper (I know, I know, elementary teachers are supposed to have construction paper!  And I do, it's just all at school).  I also had to buy a glue stick (again, at school) and a measuring cutting board.  But, I was already at Hobby Lobby for the frame so I got it all in one trip!

Anyway, I followed the directions I was given, cut out my template, cut prettier paper to make them more colorful, and added decorations.  My first one was a little rough, but I love it just the same!  I'll probably do this with my class during the year, maybe to give as gifts and maybe just to restock the room.  Here's how they turned out!

Aren't they cute?!  My hubby (George) told me to get more creative and this last one was his idea.  He wanted to make it like a crazy swamp monster!  I think it turned out pretty darn cute, just like him.  :)  Now, the only reason this project is unfinished is because I have more than 8 students and need to make more.  But otherwise, this one is pretty close to being done!

Project 3:  Melted Crayon Art!

Now this is another project that I borrowed from another blog.  This time it's called Unsimple Living and I love it!  Btw, she has some adorable handmade head bands up on her page right now!  Anyway, this is the crayon art that she did.  She spent a bunch of time peeling off the crayon paper but I left it on because I like knowing that it's crayons and it's more primary school-ish anyway.  Her's is still gorgeous though! 

Some supplies (I used a 16x20 in. canvas)

So, like her, I had my mom help me (again, crafty).  She hot glued the canvass while I stuck the crayons on.  It really is a two person job, at least for my klutzy self!  

All glued on!

Previous to actually starting this, I had had a two hour long conversation with a close friend from college who happens to have majored in art.  I told her about my project and she suggested putting waxed paper over the crayons and using an iron instead of the hair dryer.  So, we did.  It heated unevenly however, and some crayons melted very quickly and ran beautifully down the canvass.  Others...had more issues.  We eventually switched to the hair dryer to finish it off.  For some reason, the reds, purples, oranges, and yellows had a much harder time melting than did the greens, browns, blues, and grays.  But, I love it and think it turned out beautifully!  It will hang in my classroom near where the kiddos will do art projects.  Or maybe by my desk because I love it so much.  

I did run into one other small problem.  About halfway through, I had some of my green and brown crayons (nearly all actually) fall off!  Between the heat from the iron and the hair dryer, we had softened the hot glue enough to lose it's grip.  Thankfully those crayons were the ones that had melted the best so I waited until we were done and just re-glued them back on.  I did let it sit flat overnight though.  The crayons were very warm and I was afraid more would fall off!

The crayons were supposed to look somewhat like a sunset over water.  Like, if you were looking out at the sunset, looked down to the water, then up to the sand, to the trees, and again up to the opposite side where there were some clouds in the sky.  Well, that was my idea anyway.  It didn't really turn out like that (AT ALL) but it's still very pretty.  Several of my friends and family commented on it and one even told me to do more!  I might try different color combinations but I'm just happy this one turned out.  :)

On a side note.....

It was my hubby's and my second anniversary on Monday!  He worked all day Monday and Tuesday so we didn't really get to celebrate until today.  We didn't do much, just hung out and ate at Olive Garden for a late lunch.  We're not big self-portrait takers so here's a picture of us from right after our ceremony.  For some reason, I didn't cry at all during the actual ceremony but 2/3 of the way down the aisle I was just so happy that I started crying and couldn't stop!  I'm pretty sure I cried through a good third of the receiving line.  And of course, someone had to take a picture right after....

Right after the ceremony

Our wedding party (we took pictures on Lake Michigan)

Love all of them!  We had the BEST wedding party and the most amazing day ever.  Even now, friends and family will still reminisce about how awesome our wedding was.  I give all kudos to my mom, who planned so much of it as we were living in CA and having the wedding in WI and to my wonderful wedding party, whom without we wouldn't have had nearly as much fun!  

Ok, this has been a ginormously long post so I'll leave you with one last picture and end this one.  :) 

<3 

Busy!

So I realized that starting a blog right before school starts probably wasn't the best decision on my part.  However, I'm still going to try and stick to this as much as I can!  I've been checking out some other blogs and found some cool artsy projects for my classroom.  They aren't finished yet so I'll post more about those later.


But here's a sneak peek!

I have been reading The First Days of School by Harry Wong in order to prep myself for school.  It's an interesting read and just reaffirms a lot of what I already knew and believed in, such as creating and practicing routines over and over again so your classroom runs smoothly all year long.  I have a lot of good ideas bouncing around in my head and have quite a script going for the first day of school!  Hopefully I will be well prepared.  :)

(taken from here)

I even drove up to my school (it's about a 45 minute drive from my house) and started moving into my new room.  Thankfully, the wonderful custodial staff moved a lot of my boxes into my room so all I really needed to do was unpack...and clean.  I mean, deep clean!  There's old curriculum, old projects from students, mixed up paper and posters, stuff that's well over 20 years old hogging up space in my only cabinet.  Now, I like paper in order, especially when it's colored paper and different sizes.  The construction paper stacks I had were all mixed up so I spent a good 40 minutes or more pulling it all out and organizing it by color, opened packets and unopened packets, and size.  I did realize that I have a TON of paper (and other art supplies) though!  That's always good to know for a primary classroom.  I also pulled all the desks off each other and started sort of setting up the room.  After four hours though, it didn't look like I did a whole lot but I assure you I did!  I feel good and like I'm really getting ready to start class in a few weeks.


I also wrote letters that I'm going to send out to each student before school starts.  My amazing office manager printed out labels for me to stick on envelopes with all the addresses of my students, which made my life SO much easier!  Now I just have to personalize each letter, print them, stuff them into envelopes, and drive back up to school so the school can mail them out (they said they would do that so I didn't have to pay to mail them, what sweethearts!).  Hopefully we'll all start out on the right foot for a great year!

Go Cougars!

(taken from here)

Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to finish all my art projects for school so I can take pictures and let you all see them.  Right now I'm going to find my battery charger so I can charge my camera battery to take said pictures.  My hubby is working overtime tonight so I'll be all alone with the puppy and kitty until 6 a.m.  Which also means I get to do whatever I want for as late as I want.  ;)


What have you done to prepare for your school year?  




What kinds of projects have you done specially for your classroom to make it yours?

Hello!

Hi!  This is my first blog so things might be a little crazy while I figure this all out.  My name is Megan and I'm 25 years old.  I wanted a way to document all the new things that are happening in my life!  My husband, George, and I just bought a new house, I'm starting to teach a new grade (2nd!), my best friend is having her first baby, and everything seems to be moving at a quick pace.  

Here's me!  

I really am bad at this whole introduction beginning stuff and I kind of feel like I should ask people before putting their picture up here, so I'm going to wait on more pictures.  Although, I do have two loves in my life who won't mind getting their picture put up here!  Here they are:  Diesel and Shar (or Mamas, which she responds to much better...guess the nickname turned into her "name"!)

Diesel giving me his best "I'm sitting perfectly because I know you have a treat" look.  :)

Mamas caught in the act!

These two keep my life interesting and I love spending time with them.  Mamas is a bit snobbish and she doesn't like many people.  She especially doesn't like my best friend, Allie!  The problem might be that when we first got Shar, she was a rescue kitten and we were told she was a he.  So, we named him/her Sherman.  We unluckily discovered he was a she when she went into heat...which was very unfortunate considering we had to work in the morning and she would meow all night long!  So, we renamed her Shar and had her promptly fixed.  Now, Allie decided to call her Shermina instead and apparently Shar does NOT like that name!  Every time Allie comes over, Shar immediately hisses and runs away to hide.  It also doesn't bode well for you if you're trying to meet her for the first time and Allison is over too, even if she is in another part of the house!  

Diesel, on the other hand, is very lovable and by no means scary, despite his looks.  He is extremely friendly and is more likely to snuffle you to death than anything.  He does have some deadly farts, however, which have cleared many a room!  He is a sweetheart and everyone who meets him loves him. We're hoping to soon have another English bulldog, possibly a girl.  See, I left for student teaching a week after we bought him (George and I were only dating at the time) and I missed all of his puppy moments.  George really wants me to experience all the puppy stages and I think he's more excited for me to witness all those than I am!  (Possibly to pay me back for him having to take Diesel out every two hours and clean up accidents etc...)  I hope this next time we'll get a girl bully so that way maybe we can have baby bullies!  Diesel needs a puppy friend anyway.  Shar just can't handle his playing sometimes...she comes away well drooled on and her hair sticks up all over the place.  :)  

Ok, that's my little family.  I'll be writing more about home improvements, school, healthy eating, and working out!  (whew, I always hate the first entry, even when I had a diary as a kid, so I'm glad this one is done!)