I simply cannot believe that December is upon us. I can vividly remember thinking about this Christmas in, oh, January or so, and wondering what it would hold for me this year. I'll save that for another blog post, though. 

Today, I have Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) on my mind. My dear friends Andrea and Kelly got engaged recently, and it was Kelly's RAK's two December's ago that brought him and Andrea back together. Kelly decided he wanted to do something nice each day for the month of December. This ranged from paying for a stranger's gas to dropping off a tricycle at a homeless shelter. Andrea helped him come up with ideas via Facebook, and the rest is history! But, this year especially, I am all over this Kindness idea. 

Tomorrow, my Finding Yourself In School club is going to a local business to paint a Winter Wonderland display for them. While not entirely random, I'm so proud of my students for wanting to make a positive difference in the community. It means so much to me to see teenagers wanting to do good for others just for the sake of doing good. 

Today, I was struck by a note in the Celebrations section of the South Bend Tribune. It was announcing the 85th birthday of a man and had a note that stated, "Please call me. I miss all my friends. Or please come visit me at..." I teared up thinking about this man in Lakeville... a man who seems lonely that he would give his address and phone number... a man who just wants his friends to spend some time with him. I kept thinking about my grandfather in his assisted living home, and my mother who goes to see him every single day, and all the other people there who don't have someone to come visit them. And it struck a chord with me. So, before my lunch started, I wrote the man a card. I wished him a happy birthday and told him that the students and staff of our high school were wishing him many more happy years. Maybe it's silly. Maybe it's silly that he'll get this card and think, "Why would someone I don't know send me anything? Idiots. I only wanted to hear from people I know!" But maybe it'll make his day, and that thought makes me really happy. 

I want to keep doing other RAKs throughout December, and have found a few really great web sites like this one. They're so simple and many of them are free and take very little time. If you can, try to do one this month too. Because there's no such thing as putting too much kindness out in to the world. 

Thanksgiving, the best holiday ever

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means my favorite holiday of the year is upon us again! Seriously, what's better than a day that is meant to be spent with family, eating a ton of food, watching football, and thinking about how blessed we all are? Not much can beat that. Okay, nothing can beat that. 

I hate to be sappy... actually, who am I kidding, I don't hate to be sappy. So, since I'm sappy, I feel like I have so much to be thankful for this year. Yesterday, with my very patient, very ready for break students, we sat in a circle on the floor and talked about what we were thankful for. It's always fun to hear what students will say. And they were grateful for some really great things. 

This year, some of my students also made Thanksgiving hand turkeys. We did this in my mentor group, and I have one student who has only been in the country a short time. He  took paper and drew his hand, but then I think he was TOTALLY lost on what he was supposed to do and ended up filling his hand in with geometric shapes. I guess I forgot that not every country teaches its children about hand turkeys.

I wish so much that I would take more time to reflect on what I'm grateful for. There is so much goodness in the world, but sometimes I feel like I get sucked in to the crud and let my focus and energy go there. It shouldn't, though. There's just too many wonderful things to be thankful for. I would make a blog list, but I feel like it might be pretty long, and I wouldn't want to bore you. :) 

Tomorrow, my parents, Dan, and I will get in the car, look through the Black Friday ads, and drive to Lansing, Michigan to see our extended family. There's nothing I love more than spending this holiday with this family. They are the best group of people I know, and I am so ready to hug everyone, see the babies, talk weddings, and get the latest updates. I can't wait to tell the stories we've all heard a thousand times (Dana is thankful for carrots!), watch the Lions, eat M&M's while we wait for dinner, and take one day out of the year where nothing else is more important than just being together. 

I hope you and your loved ones get to enjoy the day together. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

No work out + Stress = Crazy person

It is a truth I will now universally acknowledge that when I don't work out, I became a bat s*** crazy person. I know you believe this is an over-exaggeration. It is not. Seriously. 

On Saturday morning, I got up and went for a run at Lake Michigan. It was a glorious 43 degrees. The sun was shining. I saw three deer about fifteen feet away from me. No dogs tried to bite me. It was a good run. The rest of Saturday was spent running around... until I started to feel totally run down. Sunday was more running around and more feeling run down, so I didn't work out. I barely even walked... unless it was to get more cheese. Or cake. 

And by last night, I was a crazy person. 

I was crabby, emotional, and exhausted. For no real reason whatsoever. I was just being a crazy person. 

Today at work, it was a Monday. It's odd, because tomorrow is our last day of the school week before Thanksgiving break (Friday Tuesday?), so I was trying to be energetic and motivated but I wasn't having it. Tonight, I learned a couple of new routines before Jazzercise and then taught Body Sculpt class. And what happened? I felt AMAZING by the time it was over. Apparently, for me, the answer to dealing with stress, crabiness, anger, and being upset is working out the frustrations. Thank goodness for a solid work out to clear the brain and bring back some positivity. 

In other news, the most fantastic holiday ever is this week! More on that later! :) 

Life is short but sweet for certain

It has been a tough week. The other day, I actually clicked on my high school friend Jeannie Hayes' Facebook profile. Why, you ask? Because I was looking to see how many likes Jeanne Claude Van Damme had to prove that even if I was old, people knew who he was. Jeannie had just posted some pictures from a breast cancer walk she had done with some friends. In the next day or two, I started to see more things about Jeannie appear on Facebook... but they were things I didn't want to see.

Jeannie was someone who always had a smile on her face. She quite literally exuded enthusiasm for all things. We had a few classes together in high school -- I vividly remember a picture of she and I outside near the lockers of an English class we had, but for the life of me, I can't find the picture right now. She was an on-air personality at WREX in Rockford and her dream was to work for Oprah. 

So, when I started seeing posts about Jeannie being gravely ill, I was worried. On Wednesday night, I got a message from Jeannie's friend Kim explaining that Jeannie had felt sick over the weekend, went to the doctor on Monday (and was sent home with an antibiotic), and on Tuesday, was so sick that she had to call 911. She lost consciousness on the way to the hospital and never regained it. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with acute leukemia. It also became apparent that she had serious brain swelling near her brain stem and went in to emergency surgery. 

As Thursday rolled around, the news became worse. It was apparent that Jeannie's condition had deteriorated tremendously. Late that evening, Jeannie passed. 

So many things have come from this, I'm not even sure where to start. Everyone I have talked to who knew Jeannie, even if only briefly, has been tremendously impacted by her and her passing. I've been able to reconnect with old friends and tell them how important they are to me. It's made me say "I love you" a little more often, and offer hugs and a listening ear a little more willingly. I think this has made all of us step back and realize what really matters in life. Lately, I've been so stressed about work and the new teacher evaluation system, and in all reality, in the end, those are NOT the moments I'll be remembering. I don't want to take a second for granted. I want to teach from the heart, but mostly I want to soak up times with those I love and experience everything the world has to offer. Jeannie did just that... and she'll never be forgotten. 

Click here to learn more about Jeannie

Dreadmill intervals

When I left work yesterday, it was dark and dreary. This made me want to do nothing but curl up in a ball on the couch next to Dan, eat ice cream, and watch the election results (YAY Glenda Ritz!). Instead, I went to the gym. Upon my arrival at the gym, I sat for a solid thirty minutes talking to Janet BEFORE getting on the dreadmill. 

To spice it up, I decided to do intervals. I figured this would help pass the time. Okay, okay, if I'm being totally honest, I also cut ten minutes out of the original 45-minute work out due to a serious case of getting hangry. But here's what I DID do: 

Minutes                             Speed
0-4                                     4
4-9                                     6.5
9-13                                   4
13-22                                 6.5
22-23                                 7
23-24                                 8
24-26                                 6 
26-27                                 8
27-28                                 7
28-30                                6
30-35                                4 

All in all, 3.3ish miles in 35 minutes and the time really DID go quickly. I think I needed it after a long week of final projects, finals, and the end of first trimester at school. I'm aiming to do another treadmill run tomorrow before Jazzercise, as I don't know if I'll have any time to work out this weekend (more on that later). 

To be fair, AFTER running, I did end up on the couch eating ice cream curled under a blanket next to Dan. So, I won on both accounts! 

Also, my students are awesome, and have made some seriously kick butt final projects. I know I had little to do with their actual creation, but it makes me proud to know them. 

Organization and old age

My friend and coworker, Ashley, is one of those organizing gurus everyone wants to be. Her classroom is adorable. She has cute, clearly labeled baskets for all of her assignments. Everything on her desk is in the appropriate place. And she makes it look easy! Ashley recently started Clean Slate Organizers, her brand new business (you can check it out here on Facebook!). And, it's also inspired me to start organizing. 

I've always been semi-organized. Everything is in its place. It's just... cluttered. I have lots of piles. And, I hold on to things for way too long. So, Ashley's influence has rubbed off, and in the past few weeks, I've been able to organize the table in my hallway, my book shelf, my kitchen junk drawer, and my school bag. It's such a great feeling to see the small changes and declutter the junk. There's a looooong way to go, and a definite organizational system that needs put in to place, but this is definitely going a long way to help with No Negativity November. 

In other news, I was yet again reminded today at school that I. Am. Old. My students did a novel study, and in one of the questions, I asked students to cast the characters in the movie version of their novels. I was trying to give examples, so I said, "Well, you know, if one of your characters is a really tough, macho guy, you'd want to cast someone like... John Claude Van Damme!" Apparently, this made me 1,000-years-old in the eyes of my students because NONE of them had a clue who I was talking about. I found myself having to back track and say, "Van Damme? No? Okay... Vin Diesel?" Some of them knew Vin Diesel. Horrible, horrible example. 

Hi. High schoolers have no idea who I am.

No Negativity November

I know everyone says this, but I really can't believe it's November. This year has been absolutely flying by. And now that we're heading in to the holiday season, it's bound to get even busier and go even faster. 

I've seen a lot of people doing the thankfulness month on Facebook. I think focusing on things people are grateful for is so important. There's not enough gratitude out there in the world. And what does it hurt to be grateful, and to tell those we're grateful for? 

Lately, I feel like there's been too much negativity as of late, at least on my end. With the pressures at school, my lack of sleep, and being pulled in so many directions, it's been difficult to keep my morale up. While I maintain a positive attitude as often as I can, I know there are moments I slip. So, therefore, I'm dubbing this month No Negativity November. 

Every time I feel a negative thought, moment, or phrase coming to mind or mouth, I'm going to attempt to stop it in its tracts. I will not, will NOT succumb to complaining. It does very little good and does nothing for my morale. So, I'm not doing it! 

Bring on a month of positivity, baby!