Wipeout

I told myself that if I got out of work early (during daylight hours) I would go for a run. I never know what time I will get to go home, sometimes it's 3:00, sometimes it's 5:30. We actually had enough staff today so my assistant got to come in at noon and I got to leave at 2.

So naturally I putzed around at home for a while and tried to decide if I was getting sick and if I should bring Buddy with me. Then I finally stopped coming up with excuses, got dressed, wrangled Buddy into his coat (he was SO excited) and headed out the door.

We did a very slow and cold first mile that ended with a wipeout. A chunk of sidewalk jumped up into my path and after a skip/hop/stumble and Buddy scrambling out of the way, I was on the ground. I'm totally fine, I just laughed, brushed myself off and kept going. Our second mile went much faster (and safer) though Buddy was definitely slowing down toward the end. He's now snoring away on his bed.

He loves when I get in his face and take pictures of him.

And I was pretty excited to finally get out and try my fancy new running socks that Tom got me for Christmas. Comfy!

Please excuse my splotchy red legs, it was chilly out!

Good (long) day

It was a really good day at work today overall. We had a packed classroom with ten kiddos and only two of us (yesterday there were 10 of them and 3 of us). And even though we had some meltdowns and frustrating moments, there were far more good moments.

Circle time went really well, all ten of them actually sat and listened which pretty much never happens. There's always one that needs to run around the room knocking things off shelves during circle time.

We made oobleck in our sensory bin today. The kids were fascinated by it and only made a little (giant) mess.

And we made rainclouds in a jar (starbucks cup) for science.

The bottom part is water and the top is our shaving cream cloud. We took turns using an eyedropper to drip rain (the blue water) into the clouds and then watched and talked about what was happening. It was fun to watch, most of the food coloring stayed just below the shaving cream for a while, but by the time I left work it had spread through the water.

Unrelated. This is how cold it was last night when I took Buddy outside.

That's a hat, a sweatshirt, my down jacket and my regular jacket. My nose was still cold.

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.