falling for fall

Dear Fall,
 I think I might love you this year.  I started to really like you last year.  I liked the variety of colors you displayed on my early morning drives to school.  But then you got cold and turned to one awful bland color. And that's when I forgot about my love for you.

So here I am to say "sorry about that" and that I've been thinking about you a lot lately.

I have a lot of fond memories of you from my past.  Crunching perfectly dry leaves against concrete made me forget my heavy back pack or that first paper due date. Harvesting makes me think of my dad and football makes me think of lots of things. Oh, and apple crisp--- oh apple crisp with you is just divine. Apple crisp at any other time just hasn't been the same.

Before I get too far, I need to explain myself a little.  I think I still am a true spring girl.  Afterall, I was born in that season so it's only natural.  That first drop of sunshine as the snow is long gone is just pure bliss.  That natural sun-derived heat after only feeling heat from a hot shower for 5 months is great. I mean really, it's a pretty great feeling.

However, I got to thinking, that I can choose to love you.  After all, "feelings" can get a little weird with me.  So here I am, fall, saying that I am going to choose to love you.

Of course it's been nice that you've been easy to love.  I like not sweating after 5 minutes and keeping the windows open all day and night. I like the clothes I get to wear and being able to cover up a little more.  I also kinda like the back-to-school feel that the whole city gets.  I still don't love football, but I have grown to like the atmosphere.

Here's to our new season together.  Let's try to extend this time as long as we can!!

I am Mrs. Jensen

Did this title make you think I was going to gush about what a wonderful husband I have and how lucky and blessed I am??  Well, just know I think ALL of those things-- but I'll spare you the sappiness. :)

I am also Mrs. Jensen when I am a teacher!  Here's a few pictures from my late-afternoon-evening job...

I printed these out and put them on a poster which says "This is what the room looks like when we leave."  ie: it's clean, nothing on the floor, desks straight, and chairs pushed in... (It's not MY classroom-- just the classroom I use for 6 hrs a week.)

It's part of a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. I capitalized that because it's a real deal thing and I'm officially trained (I think).  I also took pictures of the children doing good children behavior.  Never point out what is wrong to correct behavior, but point out what is good.  Or what the other kid is doing well so the naughty kid will kick it into gear.  

Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 3:30-5:30 I am teaching 1/2 hour reading group, 1/2 hour reading group, 1/2 hour math group, and 1/2 hour math group.  The 1/2 hours are rounding up and there's lots of wrangling and managing in between! My groups are only 5-6 kids-- but sometimes it feels like a lot more!  

It's going great though!  The more I feel comfortable with the routine-- the more I like it!

Dory the cat update

 These are just the few funny poses we find our cat in on an average day.
(don't mind the demon cat-eyes, I figured you'd forgive me for not editing the photos before)

She has made herself quite comfortable in the 2 1/2 months. Lately, she'll come in our room in the morning after she hears the alarm and stomp on us. 

She would much rather sit on a person than on a couch.  It doesn't matter if there's a computer on your lap-- she'll find a way to also join your lap.  I lay on my side-- and she balances on my hip. I have my legs on the ottoman, she'll pick one to straddle.  It's kinda fun to have a cuddly cat!  

Ok- now maybe one of these days I'll blog about something other than my cat! :)

I'm a teacher... right??

So I'm a teacher-- or at least I can be.  I forget that sometimes.  I can teach English to anyone in 5th-12th grade.  I can teach English to those who would call it their second language (or third, etc...) and they can be in kindergarten through 12th grade.

And I can also teach anything to any age for a day or so at a time.  That's what I'm doing now. I am the cool young substitute teacher.  I've just had a few jobs so far, and none of them have been too horrific at all.  It's really easy to forget that I'm not a teacher until I get "back into it."

I also recently got hired as a lead teacher at an after school program for an elementary school that is just a few minutes away from my house. Seriously, I drove there and it was 2 mins and 47 seconds.  Then I walked there in like 13 minutes.  The job starts next week-- I've just had some training so far.  All this training is making me feel like I could get "back into it."

So every Monday, Wednesday, Friday from now until April-something I will teach four different 1/2 hour lessons to 1st, 2nd, and a few 3rd grade students.  They give you the curriculum and it's mostly straightforward, but I'm excited to search the internet for literacy lessons for kids.  While I'm working with a group of 6 students-- the other 6 of my students are with a paraprofessional in my room.  These students are not up to grade level in reading, and the goal is to get them there by spring.  I need to remember that and feel the weight of that responsibility.

That's what I've been up to.  Teaching can be a busy, stressful, and exhausting job.  Sometimes that's all I can remember when I think about teaching and it's the last thing I want to do.  But lately, I've been feeling like a teacher and I think I'm OK with it.

Improvement pits

And here's a peak into our newest home/yard improvement project...

It's a fire pit!  Just in case you can't really tell.  

Here's the progress on the left.  Oops... I didn't get a true "before" shot. Oh well. Just know that it was pretty bad.  About 4 feet of weeds filled this awkward corner of our yard. 

We simply dug up and moved around some bricks that were there outlining the weed mess.  Didn't know those were even there before!

Free wood chips popped up on Craigslist.  Just needed lots of trips and lots of things to put them in.  Once again, Craig helped us out.  Free cat.... free wood chips.... we'll see what's next!

The stacked railroad ties were moved from another part  of our yard.  They were outlining the garden area by the second garage-- but these two weren't serving any purpose so we made a bench from them.

The huge tractor tire was a random find that was behind an old shed in the "scary corner" of our yard.  There's also a larger propane tank behind there.  And lots and lots of spiders.

 The tree stump stool was snagged from the city free-tree-stump-drop-off-area.  Or something like that.  There's a bunch of huge old trees that they make into free mulch and we've heard that some people bring chainsaws and cut firewood from it.  No chainsaw-- but we were able to bring some pieces home to use for firewood. 

S'more filled summer... or fall... nights coming soon!