Crafty, like a fox?

My assistant keeps insisting that I'm creative and crafty. I really just find a lot of ideas online.

My bulletin board in all its glory.

 

My snowman is very popular. My boss keeps walking other teachers down to my room to make them look at it. We're at the far end of the building so there isn't usually a lot of traffic in our hallway. I'm suppressing the urge to make another bottom piece so it will look better. I don't really have time for that.

I'm making an effort to eat sort of healthy right now in anticipation of when it isn't below freezing all day long and I can run without fear of ice. I made a giant bowl of kale, rice, black beans and avocado for dinner last night. It was also covered in a large amount of Cholula. I ate it too fast to take a picture of it, but I did take one of the excessive amount of kale that I used.

That is not a small pan.

And I get another half hour of sleep starting tomorrow. Another teacher is going to start coming in earlier and will hang out with my one kid that always comes early. That extra half hour is going to be amazing.

Melted snowmen

Buddy misses Tom.

He still checks all the rooms when I get home to see if Tom is hiding in one of them.

Another new kiddo started today so we had nine at school today. Nine is a lot of two year olds. We made it through the day without having to write any incident reports and everyone napped so I feel like we won. Plus the only major meltdown happened when I told one little girl not to sit on another little girl. I was clearly out of line on that one. Silly me.

I put this up today. The bottom part had some problems and I can't figure out how to make a mouth that doesn't look creepy (I might try again tomorrow). But otherwise it is pretty cute.

We painted melted snowmen at art today. I spaced on taking a picture but they turned out pretty cute. They painted the "snowman" part with shaving cream and glue and then they each had construction paper buttons, a scarf, a nose and googly eyes to glue to the paper. They'll be joining the cup snowman on the bulletin board tomorrow.

I got to have a "short" (normal length) work day today and only worked until 3. It was really nice.

Holiday clean up

After a cancelled flight, and several attempts to rebook, Tom is off to Las Vegas for a couple weeks for work.

Buddy kept waiting for him to come upstairs last night when we went to bed.

Tom's trips have been suspiciously timed. Time to set up the Christmas tree? Oh, Tom needs to be in California. Tree needs to come down? Time to head to Vegas. Coincidence? I think not. ;)

Taking the tree down is way less fun than putting it up.

The corner is much less exciting without the tree.

I decided for my next half marathon to get someone else to make my training plan for me. I have to have a plan or I just won't get out and run as much as I should. So for this time around I signed up for the Runners World Challenge. They send you a training plan, a book and challenge shirt.

Even though it will be my 4th half marathon, my current level of fitness made me choose the most realistic plan option - the beginners plan. While my pride wanted to pick one of the ones with a goal time, I was worried it might be too much too soon. I really want to avoid injury.

I finally did the math and I will officially start training on the 13th. Time to get better at time management!

New running gear

I love new running gear. It's fun.

I ordered my first pair of compression socks (in purple, of course).

Source

 I have only heard good things about them and I'm excited to try them out. Plus I used a gift card that one of my families at work gave me for Christmas, so they were pretty much free!

And I used my Christmas money from my grandma to get this vest in green.

Soruce

 It's reflective and super bright so it is going to be great for running during the not-so-light times of day. I decided I had better odds of actually wearing a vest that I can layer under than a jacket since I'm strangely picky about my running jackets.

As much as it is just plain fun to get new gear, it really does make a difference to have the right clothes and shoes. Dressing for the weather can sometimes be the difference between a miserable run and a great one.

At least that's what I tell myself - I have to validate my drawer full of running gear somehow!

Snow Day!

No school!

Everyone at work has told me that we pretty much never close, but we're closed today!

It isn't an insane amount of snow (it is about 6 inches or so), but it's so cold out that the endless amounts of salt they pour on the road can't melt anything.

I would have more pictures for you, but I haven't gone outside yet today. It only recently got out of the single digits. No thank you.

Snow panic

We're supposed to get a bunch of snow tonight. They're saying 6-10 inches. Earlier everyone was freaking out and saying it was going to start around 4 this afternoon. I didn't leave work until 5, but there was no snow to be seen.

Work has already decided to open late tomorrow (10 instead of 7 - I'll take it!) which seems odd to me since there isn't any snow yet. My boss told me that it will be funny for me to see everyone panic about the snow and that everyone forgets how to drive. So I have that to look forward to.

Now that it's the new year, it's almost time to start my training plan for my half marathon in March. Having a plan makes me actually get out and run, even if the weather is bad. I ran my first half marathon completely under-trained and I never want to do that again.

I need to add to my medal collection, it's been too long.

Plus, now I have a sweet plaque to hang them from!

I keep thinking it's the weekend

Happy New Year! These holidays in the middle of the week are really messing with my head. I keep thinking it's the weekend, but I worked yesterday and will be back to work again tomorrow. On the bright side I think there will be a few kiddos staying home tomorrow.

We had a good new years. I got out of work around 3:30 so I got to relax for the afternoon and then we headed over to Tom's friend Alex's house. It ended up being a pretty mellow night hanging out, eating roasted duck that Alex's mom cooked and spending some time by a bonfire. Tom took over a couple of Christmas trees that were by our dumpsters and we reenforced the knowledge that Christmas trees are a total fire hazard - but fun to burn on purpose.

I hope you all had a good New Years Eve!