Half full or Half empty

I tend to look at the glass as half empty. I try really hard to be a half full person, but most days it just isn't in the cards. I put a great deal of pressure on myself to be the best teacher, the best mother, the best wife and it all tends to end up in a heap most days. I am trying to adjust to life in the south once again, and this is a very difficult task for a Montana girl. I like my meat and potatoes and these people down here eat weird stuff. I mean who wants to eat the greens of a turnip, the eyes of a black pea and fried anything!!!
They fry pickles down here. Really cook me a nice steak and some mashed potatoes and I am a happy Montana girl.
I really do not fit in down here. I hate the major thunderstorms that happen and flood our roads, and then lead to  tornado warnings and my heart racing. My co-workers feel this is very funny and laugh each time it rains and I start to freak out. Let me see them shovel 5 feet of snow and then we will see who is laughing.
Also I stick out like a sore thumb at the football games around these parts. The women, you see wear more makeup than I buy in ten years, have on dresses that are shorter than my shirts and high heels, which I do not even own a pair. You wear all of this to the game and tail gate in 120 degree weather and then go home to find out who won the game. Yes, that is right, they do not even go to the game.
I on the other hand do not think it is football weather unless it is chilly, leaves are on the ground and you need a blanket and a hot drink in your hand as you sit in the stands with men in carhart clothing and strange youth that have no shirt on and the letters of the school painted on their chests. Also it is helpful to know the game, which I really do not think many women down here care to know. It seems as I am the oddball when I ask one of the coaches at school a question about a game over the weekend or even answer his bell ringer about superbowl teams and  much to his surprise I get the answer correct.
One student did tell me today I am a cool teacher cause he did not think that women knew what football was and the fact that I could name the four teams in the playoff meant I ranked on his cool teacher list.
So as I started this post about half full and half empty, I am feeling very empty in my friend department at the moment. I am the child in the classroom that does not quite fit in. I am the granola of the women, in that I can be up and at school in under 20 prep time and I never have time in the day to touch up my face. Yeah, right I can't even find time to go to the bathroom. I am half empty on this southern woman thing, as I was asked to take a box to my room today and I did just that. The custodian saw me and offered to take it for me on the dolly. Really, he could have lifted the box if it had not been for all those fried pickles.
I am my own person, I try to tell the students that this is okay and I need to listen to myself. I will never be fooey and I will never have a need for high heels, I will never eat greens and the only pea I want is a green one from the garden. As for football, those forty niners had better win and I really want to see those giant lose.
Til tomorrow, I will fill my glass half full of red wine and relax.

Mother Knows Best

Tried to change my blog and once again my mother was right. I could not read the words and neither could she so we had to make an adjustment.
I am making an adjustment to my attitude from this week as well. I have been overwhelmed and frustrated by the mountain looming in front of me in the form of the state tests. I have been fretting over observations, and lots of stuff that I have zero control over. I am not going to eat the elephant in one bite, and I am not going to fret over the state tests. I will do my best to prepare the students, giving them all the keys to unlock this great mystery and then I will throw up for the week of the tests cause, they left the keys home. No, really, I will have confidence in my skills and hopefully I will regain my strength as a teacher and push forward. I really and sincerely hope that one day soon our country will see that each student is a gift from god and they do not all fit into the same little hole. Have a blessed weekend.

New year and new word

It is already January 2012 and I have been very bad about my blog. I miss blogging, but have been trying to be a sixth grade reading teacher. Lots of trying and not sure if I am succeeding yet or not.
So new word or words for this year. Walk, Water and Wii.
Yes, I am in need of all of these. I have been doing the Wii with Robyn and love it. My body not so much but my mind, yes. I love the one that you have to be still for 180 seconds. I am really good at that one. The hula hoops, the marching and anything that requires coordination forget it. But each day I am getting better and my center of balance is really improving.
Water, I am needing to break my soda addiction and work on my water intake. Long hard process, one glass at a time. Also my husband wants to go on a cruise before we are 80 and I am really hesitant. I am afraid of being on all that water. Do not get me wrong, I love the ocean, just so long as I am on the beach. So my goal is to overcome this fear of sea sickness, boat rocking making me want to hurl and hopefully enjoy a cruise with Jeff.
Walking, well, I used to walk all the time. I had a great neighbor and we would walk for what seemed hours. I moved to Az and had no neighbors so I got away from this walking thing. Now in Ms I have neighbors but my work schedule and theirs is different so I am working on this area as well.
Just like last year my choice of words is difficult to be perfect at but I am trying and that is all that matters. Also just started day 1 of my 48th year today. So happy to be able to say I am 47. Some never make it this far.
Have a great day and here's to better blogging this 2012 on my part.
Angela

Fall

In five or six days it will be October, can't believe it. Last week was the last day of Summer. Well, whoever made up that silly date was not a person in Mississippi. The weather seems even hotter than it did in July here.
I mowed the lawn and it too almost two hours. The grass was as thick as hay. The rain really did a number on my ability to mow this week. Went for a walk with Jeff around the golf course this morning and was so sweaty by the first hole, had to take my sweatshirt off and wipe all the sweat away. The leaves are still green and the grass is still green. Sure seems like summer to me.

I watched some football this morning, in that I mean about ten minutes into it I fell asleep and woke up three hours later to the end of the game. I love doing this. I did not sleep well last night with the humidity up and an ear ache.

I have decided that fall means, hot food, spiced cookies , sweaters and lots of hot tea. Here in MS it means, iced tea, shorts, salads and spiced cookies. Robyn made the best cookies yesterday.
I need to go up north to see the leaves changing and Jeff said that we could do just that for my fall break. I am so excited. Tenn. here we come. Jeff looking at civil war sites, me looking at the leaves changing and the cooler weather makes for a perfect get away.
Love to all for the start of Fall.

Reading

I am teaching reading. I love to read and I am trying to get that across to my students. Here in lies the deep question. Why do I feel like I am talking all day? I need to get these kids to read, but in order to meet all the standards, I am having to show them all the stategies, methods, and ways to read. I am considering having one day a week for just reading. I know this sounds like a cop out of teaching for the day, but bear with me for a minute.
If Brett Farve was to just run plays, do drills and learn his teams calls, would he be as good of a player if he never got to actually play the game? We all need to practice the skills daily and I am thinking that if I could watch how some of the children read, maybe this would give me more insight into what the stumbling blocks are for the children. Weigh in on this big questions please.

The Need for Rest

I rest more than my family. I think that some people need more rest than others in order to be nice. I really am not very nice if I am tired or run down. All I have wanted the past two weeks is some much needed rest. All I have gotten is: a freak storm, that woke me from my sleep and I have learned since is not that freaky in Mississippi and I can expect more and greater. Great!
A dog that for some reason goes through spirts when she can not rest and continues to get into everything and anything. Barking at the moon, chewing a hole in my down comforter again, and now there are feathers or fluff and I call it all over my bedroom. Really!!!!
The sound of mowers in the neighborhood at 6 am on a Sat. cause it is too damn hot any other time to mow here in the south.
All I really wanted was to sleep and feel rested. This is not the case. I have a head cold, stuffed up to the very top of my head, the house needs cleaning and my throat is sore from breathing in fluff all night. Oh, yeah, also I must have had a great night of snoring with all this cause Jeff hit me twice with his elbow . Some days it may just pay to get in the car with the family and drive, I do not care how far or how long cause in about five minutes I will be asleep and it will be the best sleep I have gotten in a week. Jeff, do you want to listen to your xm? Lets go for a drive.

New Friends

It seems funny that at age 46 I am making new friends. This move has been very difficult. I believe mainly due to the fact that I no longer have school age children to help me make friends. I know, silly miss use of my children. It is difficult to work and have a career and come home to keep house and have time to make friends.
It has been the case that most of my friends have been from work. The last year, this was not the case. I felt left out, different and very shy for the first time in my life. I did not really want to make friends, and I do not know why. I needed to be able to come home and figure out what I was doing in Mississippi.
A girl from Montana that really dislikes all the strange veggies they eat down here, does not eat to the bone on her chicken and would really like it if there was a Mountain with in a few miles was having a very difficult time being a friend as well as finding a friend.
I made friends with my neighbor, she is sweet loving and just turned 75. I made friends with a girl that is still a young girl at 30 and not married and no kids, but something was missing.
I needed someone to talk to about my girls, to understand what it is to be married going on 26 years and to know that when I have to go to the bathroom, move out of my way.
I needed someone to laugh with, cry, and to just scream with to relieve all this pent up emotion of finding a house, new jobs, new life and the nasty veggies that they have down here. Really, why eat the greens if you have the good part, the carrot at the end. Really!!!!!!!

I found some. Really I have found three. They are real, normal women. They laugh, sing, dance and talk about the stupid shows that the husbands make us watch. Hillbilly Fishing, give me a break.
They are wonderful. I am blessed and they will never know how much they have made me feel apart of my new school.
Thank you so much........R       K  The singing and dancing twins and C you make me laugh and that is so welcome.