Happy Earth Day :)

In honor of Earth Day (and the fact that my edemame seeds were just delivered today), my sister and I had bonding time! Even though it is freezing outside we ate italian ices (cherry for me and chocolate for her), and then made a huge mess in the middle of my living room.  A few things had to be replanted, so she helped with that, and then we planted a few new things.

Almost everything has been growing really nicely, save for two zucchini seeds.  We moved them to new pots so hopefully that helps.

I wanted to photo blog, but realized that I couldn't when my hands were covered with soil.  So my sister used her nose to take these pictures with her phone  :)

 Zucchini being replanted. Sort of looks like Randall from Monster's Inc...

     

Edemame all planted!

Cucumbers are growing quite nicely!

A zucchini in a dirt clod.  Hard to imagine that this little thing grows into such a delicious vegetable.

More Seeds!!!

I just got home from work and opened the mailbox... and my edemame seeds have arrived!!! More to plant :)

Have to take a quick trip to the store, this chilly weather has me in the mood for some homemade Italian Wedding Soup and I need some ingredients.

When I get back:
-An updated gardening post with my newly planted soybeans
-A recipe post for Italian Wedding Soup
-Day 9 of the 30 Days Challenge

Procrastination means... SHOPPING!!

As is par for the course for a Sunday after a relaxing weekend before another tedious week of state testing, I find myself procrastinating writing my lesson plans.  What do I do when I procrastinate? Shop online, to my dismay.  Tonight it's okay, because I'm shopping for presents for other people and not for myself!

If anyone here is an online shopper, I really hope you are using ebates... Definitely worth the extra hassle of clicking through their site to shop.

The way it works: Sign up using the button below, search for your favorite stores through ebates, make a purchase, get a check from ebates.  Almost sounds too good to be true, but it is true! I was skeptical myself when a colleague first told me about ebates.  But if you are like me and find yourself ordering things with your free Amazon Prime student account often (bad habit, I know), then ebates should be your best friend.


          Click me! Sign up!

Plus for every friend that you sign up who makes a purchase you earn extra cash.  Soooo everyone should sign up. And buy stuff. And help me fund my vacation :) Haha just kidding.  I think.

Adventures in gardening... continued!

The weather here today was decent- still not really warm though. I'm still waiting for Spring to arrive. I've had enough with this 50 degree weather. I want 70s! And summer. I dragged all my gardening stuff outside to give everything a good scrub. I got most of it ready. Everything except for this bench.

It was outside in the backyard of my uncle's neighbor's house and is absolutely filthy. I scrubbed and scrubbed and bleached and still- ew. What a mess. I'm thinking this is going to call for a can of paint and makeover plans. The two pots on the side are the perfect side for me to grow tomatoes and edemame. I think I need to invest in some cushions for the top.

You know what this means... a trip to the craft store! What do you guys think? A couple coats of paint, or just leave it be?

30 Things: Day 8

I started this 30 day challenge on July 16th, 2012.  I must get my proverbial writing butt in gear and finish this, seeing as it is already April 21, 2013.

Day 8: What are 5 passions you have?

Hmm. Well let's see. If you define passion as an uncontrollable emotion, then number one on this list would definitely be...

Eating.

Ha. Maybe not number one, but definitely up there.  I mean, come on, who would honestly say that they don't like to eat?

I'm reverting back to my gold personality and making a lot of lists lately (can you tell I'm on the edge?? My fellow student leaders from Iona will understand).  So 5 passions, in no particular order:

Number 1- Laughing.  Especially with my friends... the good kind of laughing where you can't stop, even to catch your breath, especially when tears of joy are running down your face.  See The Endangered Dan Sheridan.

Number 2- Traveling. I'm constantly amazed by the amount of knowledge there is in the world and how there is so much to explore... My Grandma took me on a trip to Italy for my college graduation and since then I've been bitten by the travel bug. I want to go EVERYWHERE.  And I want to eat and laugh and learn and explore and take pictures while I'm there (wherever there is).

Number 3- Photography.  See above... My mom has always kept our pictures in albums, stacked side by side in our living room.  Every year of our lives forever immortalized in those binders.  The idea that a photograph can preserve a life like that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  Plus I love my camera.

Number 4- Teaching.  My real passion is teaching early childhood ESL, but I suppose teaching of any kind is fine by me.  There's just something about kids understanding that the world is so much bigger than they are and that you couldn't possibly learn everything there is to learn even if you had a hundred lifetimes (I suppose this is when it comes in handy to be Edward Cullen or some variation thereof).  It also helps that I have had countless teachers who were truly passionate about what they did, even if they taught Latin and drove me crazy for two years in high school.  That kind of passion isn't something you forget and I hope that my students remember me in that way.

Number 4.5- Exercising

Number 5- I wasn't really sure what I was going to put down here.  I bounced a few ideas around but ultimately I think that the last passion on this list is going to be creating.  Growing vegetables, creating wonder for my students, crocheting, writing, cooking... So I guess taking something and molding it into something new.

Sweet.

30 Things: Day 7

Edited from the summer, posting now!

Day 7: What is your dream job, and why?

I honestly don't know what my dream job is because I haven't had nearly enough experience doing any of the things I love to do. 

I want to be a teacher. An effective teacher, a respected teacher.  Not what I am now, which is stressed out and unhappy.

I want to be a photographer. I love capturing moments in people's lives that they can look back on and smile wistfully.  I've grown up in a family where pictures are so important.  Grandma called our school portraits "mouse traps" when we were younger, which of course would make us giggle hysterically.  Her house is covered in pictures and I love it.

I want to plan weddings.  I want to cook for people. I want to be a mother. I want to work with baby animals in a zoo.

All I've ever wanted in my life is to help people.  Not save people, because as the fabulous Abigail Disney said, "helping is humble. Saving is arrogant." I could read her commencement address to my graduating class every single day and never grow tired of it.

I've been given so much in my life that I feel this undeniable need to give back.  Maybe it is just the neophyte teacher in me, but I still think I can change someone's world.  Though knowing me, if I did manage to change someone's world for the better I still wouldn't be satisfied because I'm just that kind of person.  I know I can't change the entire world, but I'd like to think that I can change the part of it that I live in.

Er, so maybe my dream job is to just be a teacher.  Preferably in kindergarten, but I'll take what I can get.

30 Things: Day 6

I started the 30 Days challenge last summer and never finished.  So I suppose I'll pick up where I left off, since I'm not a quitter.

Day 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

The first thing that immediately comes to mind is getting sick with Wegener's.  But the more that I think about it, it wasn't the actual disease that was the hardest thing.  It's been dealing with the fall out.  There have been plenty of terrible experiences in my life.  WG, losing my cousin, the D.D. (Dad Debacle), struggling to love my job...

Wait.  Now I'm all confused.  Maybe it isn't just one singular experience that I can definitively say was the absolute hardest thing I've ever dealt with.  The culmination of all these things is definitely the hardest thing.  The hell with you, brain.

I've always had a "life plan".  I knew what I wanted, I knew when I wanted it to happen, and I knew what I wanted to be (happy).  There was an all encompassing definition of happy and plenty of criteria that had to be met in order for me to achieve that "happiness".  There isn't much I can say with any certainty anymore, but what I can say is that I love Mumford and Sons.

Just kidding.  I do love them (just a smidge late to that bandwagon.)  In all seriousness, I'm not really sure that I am happy.  I know that I can't keep this rigid list of criteria, but they are always in the back of my mind.  Yes, I'm teaching, but not the population I wanted nor the grade I wanted.  Yes, I'm approaching being healthy, but it took a lot of stress and hours hooked up to IVs to get there.  Yes, I have some of the greatest friends I could ever ask for, but there's still something missing.

Ok.  So what I guess I'm trying to say is that the hardest thing I've ever experienced is my quest for happiness despite facing sometimes insurmountable adversity while attempting to remain graceful and humble and appreciating what I have even though I want so much more than I've got. Yay, looks like it is time for the next existential crisis... except this one gets to be dubbed the quarter life crisis!