Pumpkin Chronicles

So If you know me at all, you know I LOVE anything pumpkin. Pumpkins are one of the many reasons I LOVE October and fall. Sadly, this year, my October has been a little less pumpkin filled than normal.

No glitter pumpkins, they're still packed in a box with the rest of the Halloween decor.
No pumpkin candles.
No live pumpkins at my doorstep.
No pumpkin spice lattes (caffeine and I no longer get along)
No visits to the pumpkin patch
No pumpkin treats.....ok I did get pumpkin birthday cake earlier this month, but there's not been nearly enough pumpkin foods around here since.

Thankfully this weekend I did slightly remedy this situation. I still have no Halloween decor out (though there are cute little kindergarten pumpkin projects hanging in my classroom), but I do now have pumpkin treats. Friday night I hung out with my sister and Toni and we made Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. Yum. Since there was still half a can of pumpkin left and I woke up raring to go way too early this morning, I decided to bake a pumpkin pie. Double Yum. Now all I need is some pumpkin pasta or pumpkin risotto and my pumpkin treat fantasies would be pretty complete. Maybe. I believe that there's never enough pumpkin, but my October is feeling much better now.

Happy Sunday!

Predictable Much?

So once again, I've not blogged in days. I've thought about it, does that count? Believe me, the fact I've even thought about it, given my craziness lately is pretty impressive. So, here goes, a predictable blog post from me.

That's right, Thursday Thankful time.

1. Professional development training today that allowed me to have an hour for lunch (time enough to go home) and get home by 3:15.

2. Email from the speech therapist saying all went well in my classroom this morning without me. She did say it wasn't the same as having calm and steady Erin in charge though, which is nice to hear.

3. Cool weather. It actually feels kind of like fall.

4. Broccoli potato soup for dinner and a caramel apple for dessert.

5. Extra time at home = extra assignment finished and extra things crossed off my to do list.

Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll get a post in before next week's addition of Thursday Thankfuls.

Happy Thursday!

Thursday Thankfuls

unknown image credit

1. SLP and OT in my class all morning. hooray for extra hands!
2. Cupcake sauvignon blanc
3. honeycrisp apples...my fave
4. home before 5pm!
5. project runway
6. self mandated work/homework free night
7. SC sneaks...loving Mendocino, hmm wonder why?
8. Friday eve
9. strawberry ice cream
10. anthro gift card (thanks Ellen!)

Happy Thursday!

The 10 on 10/10/10

So I had intended to take a picture to document my happenings at 10:10 on 10/10/10....cause I'm silly like that...but it was about 10:24 before I actually remembered this idea. Oh well, it would have been an uninteresting picture. At 10:10, you would have found me in my pj's (which are not exactly camera appropriate) in bed with my ipad reading this book for my grad school class. Exciting stuff. I'm not about to wait until 10:10 pm to take a picture either, you will likely find me doing much of the same thing anyway. So instead my friends, you get another one of my famous lists. I know, aren't you lucky? Not another list you say, but this is a special list...I give you

The 10 on 10/10/10 (posted at 10 something am):

1. Slept in today (8:55) and stayed in bed until almost 10:30, though I was technically doing school work it was still nice and cozy.

2. I am eating leftover pumpkin cake for breakfast. I know, bad kid, but YUM!

3. I will spend much of today doing laundry, cleaning, lesson planning and working on my classes. Yet another exciting Sunday at my house. Shawn and I do have an exciting outing to Super Target planned this afternoon however.

4. Hoping to get my Halloween/Fall decor out and settled one of these days.I miss my glitter pumpkins. I'd love to clean my courtyard and get some fall flowers too. Maybe this week, in between teaching, prepping, meetings and Dr. appointments...

5. Am in desperate need of an Anthro trip to indulge with my birthday coupon. If nothing else I need to go visit the coats and pretend I live somewhere cold enough to justify buying yet another coat....I fully admit I have a coat obsession, but really, just look at these beauties:

6. What I would really like to do today instead of the items mentioned in number 3 is scrap (I was invited to play with a few friends and had to say no), bake pumpkin goodies, play halloween decor and knit. Doesn't that sound like a much better day than what I have planned? I'm vowing right now to spend at least part of my winter break doing crafty things and baking. You can hold me to it.

7. Speaking of crafty things and holidays, have you seen Ali's preview to this year's December daily? LOVE. I have done the December daily twice, but decided not to last year. I'm pretty sure given my hectic schedule its not happening this year, but I sure do get inspired by Ali's posts each year. Love the simple framework and the transparency idea. Maybe I'll do a quick and easy digital version? Who am I kidding, I still haven't finished my week in the life from months ago and am months behind on Project 12.....

8. Still thinking of last nights delicious dinner at St. Francis. I've been meaning to go to St. Francis for awhile, as my mom and sister rave about it. A late birthday dinner with just the two of us seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was pretty crowded when we got there, kind of a hipster, trendy sort of place. We waited for about 40 minutes in the bar for a table, enjoying a glass of wine and the cool weather. By the time we were seated at a little outside table, the crowds had died down, which was nice. I enjoyed the roasted salmon, served on red quinoa with tomatoes and avocado (delish) and Shawn had the fig, arugula and blue cheese flatbread and 1.5 servings of cornbread on the side (both were quite tasty). In fact, I'm hoping I can convince Shawn to share his leftover flatbread with me today. Sadly they were out of the chocolate cake with caramel sauce and peanut butter gelato for dessert. We opted for a vanilla cream cake with caramel and vanilla gelato, which was tasty, but definitely not chocolate and peanut butter.

9. Am hoping Shawn follows through with his offer to make today cleaning day. I'd love to have a few boxes, piles and projects removed. Clutter definitely doesn't help my stress levels.

10. Thinking of pumpkin recipes and crossing my fingers that soup weather is not too far off. Things have definitely cooled off around here, but its not quite soup weather. Looking at the forecast for the week, it looks like 90's are returning, which I'm not too thrilled about. At least the mornings and evenings are cooling off nicely and we can pretend its fall for part of the day. Wishing I could make another Halloween visit to OR this year to enjoy the wonders of fall. Maybe next year.

Ok, I've officially spend way too much time on this version of the 10. Now to check 10 things off my to do list for today....

Happy 10/10/10!

Today

Today I....

wanted to pull my hair out, more than once...
especially since it wasn't pretty thanks to the untimely death of my curling iron

was thankful I'm a patient person

was extra thankful for my para professionals

read/sang about 8 books to my class

am covered in bruises and cuts

enjoyed an adult beverage...
and some leftover birthday cake

am ready for bed before 9pm

crossed a couple things off my to do list...
missed a few I should have taken care of

am experiencing some reflux thanks to birthday indulgences

am itching to get back to knitting

got paid

am wearing a cute t-shirt

still have pretty fingernails painted this color

am remembering to share my latest card for Simply ArTistiC:


thank goodness its Friday

Thursday Thankfuls

So I missed my Tuesday 10. How about a Thursday Thankfuls instead? It was kind of a crazy day, so I think this list might be a good idea. Today I am thankful for:

1. Chocolate covered pretzels. Yum.
2. A classroom budget to spend!
3. I only have a fat lip, bruised gum and sore tooth and not a missing tooth, torn lip or worse after running into a playground bar while rounding up a kiddo on the playground this morning.
4. Easy meals on hand in the fridge. I don't have energy to make the spinach and mushroom quiche I had planned for tonight.
5. Good friends who leave me messages and check in on me on FB.
6. A husband with a clean shaven face. I love a good clean cheek to rub.
7. Little boy giggles.
8. Tomorrow is October, my favorite month.
9. Mindless games on the ipad.
10. Several things checked off my to do list.

And because I haven't posted a picture in awhile, here's a random household vignette.

Is This Thing On?

Is anybody still out there?

Do I still have any readers?

Have you missed me?

Life has been pretty crazy since I last blogged. August and September have pretty much been a whirlwind. On August 4th I was offered a position as a junior high self contained teacher and was mentally gearing myself up to teach older kids. However, on August 6th I interviewed over the phone (while at the salon for Miss N's bridal prep) and was offered an elementary school autism position at the school I was hoping to be hired by. I got lucky. I officially started working at Desert Springs Elementary school August 19th, four days into the new school year. On that day, I learned that I would not be teaching 3rd-5th grade kiddos with autism, but would for a variety of reasons, be switching with the K-1 autism teacher. The first few days were a crazy mix of observing, transitioning, moving rooms, unpacking, getting acclimated, etc. The class was officially mine August 24th and I haven't sat down much since. :)

I have spent the last 5 weeks or so tracking down materials, working on a functional system for my kids and my classroom, figuring out school policies and obligations, prepping and planning. In addition to my new job, I am still finishing up my teaching cert, working on my Master in Education degree and seeing 3 therapy kids. Life is crazy. Most days, I get to school early to get things done in my room, spend 6 hours managing a VERY active group of 5 and 6 year old children with autism, eat lunch in my classroom while prepping activities or answering emails, stay for another hour or more after school and head home for a quick dinner and an evening of lesson planning, material prepping and lots and lots of my own school work. My current grad school class, Philosophy and Ethics in Education, just might be the death of me.

I haven't done much else. No scrapping, no paper fun (except for my monthly Simply ArTistiC card), no knitting, no long conversations with friends, little reading, magazines, tv, internet surfing, etc. My personal email often reads 200+ new messages. I have no clue what's going on in the world, save the little bits I catch on NPR to and from work. My house is a disaster. Thankfully, things are lightening up a bit. I have managed to have a couple quick chats with a few friends, have a lunch date with my sister, watch the first season of The Tudors with Shawn, shop and buy a new dishwasher and play some Words With Friends on the ipad. This past weekend, I completed two classes and took the midterm for a third. There is progress being made and my mile long to do list has had a few dents put in it. Bottom line though, its going to be a busy year. Exhausted might become my status quo. Blogging may or may not happen. I'd like to get back into a routine of at least posting my Tuesday 10 and weekend updates (though it might get old to hear about how I cut, colored, glued and did lots of school work all weekend long). I'd like to start watching some fall tv, preferably before 10 pm, since I tend to fall asleep during my shows at that time...

Thanks to those who have checked in on me via blog comments or emails. I appreciate it. I am still here. I'm doing fine, just a little overwhelmed. As exhausted and overwhelmed as I am, I am loving my new job. It's been a positive switch and I feel like I'm where I need to be. I miss music therapy a little, but use a lot of it in my classroom. I've already seen a change for the better with my kids and am getting lots of positive feedback from other teachers. Things are good, just busy. Here's hoping I can at least provide weekly updates. Now, I'm off to enjoy a must needed glass of wine.

Happy Weekend.