Put on some lipstick & pull yourself together

"I don't want to do this, it's too hard." "I'm triggered." "Why did you smack him?" "I thought he took my pencil." "Where is the pencil?" "I found it in my pocket..." These are direct quotes from my students, middle schoolers who are hormonal and dramatic and lazy. They refuse to learn some days and, …

The Glories of Chores

I'm a firm believer that children who don't do chores grow up to be adults who don't know how to care for themselves.  It's all well and good to assign chores to your children, but without consistency, motivation, and/or consequences, chore time turns into a game of frustration and nagging. Enter, the chore chart. Seriously, …

Doing (almost) everything wrong: instant motherhood.

William Shakespeare once wrote: Substitute greatness with "motherhood" and I fall into that third category. I wasn't born a mom (because...that would be weird) and I didn't achieve motherhood. Instead, I had motherhood thrust upon me. Not with an infant (or two) that I could bond with, nurture, and mold, my kids are fully grown little …

Get it together: Handling finances like a grownup

*Note: This is NOT a sponsored post. I'm receiving no compensation for the opinions expressed.* So...raise your hand if you have a budget. *moderately impressed* Keep your hand up if you actually use your budget. *mmhmm* You're not alone, my friends. A lot of us seem to be under the impression that we don't really …

Chub Chub No Rub Rub

We need to talk about something serious. Chub Rub. If you're a thigh-gapped freak who isn't familiar with this phenomenon (sometimes called inner thigh chaffing) then Chub Rub is the unpleasant sensation of wearing a skirt or shorts in the summer only to have your thighs rub together in a way that convinces you that …

Stand by Your Man | How to help when there’s nothing you can do

“Sweetheart, I’m exhausted.” His voice on the phone broke my heart a little. God, how do I make this better? I feel so helpless. When J is in pain, I’m in pain. It’s as simple as that. Whether it’s physical pain, like his hurt shoulder from a weekend of snow shoveling, or the weight of …

Just a Trim | Cutting out the dead ends

Last week I got a haircut. This isn't a major event, though, embarrassingly, I haven't had my hair cut since last May. I told my stylist/friend Lindsey that I wanted to trim away the dead ends. Nothing drastic - a good, healthy shape up. As she washed, combed, snipped, and styled, we chatted away about …

The End of the Road | Internship Recap

So here we are, friends. 11 classes, 275 students, and 79 batches of GAK later, and I’m finally staring down the last week of my student teaching experience. After the first week, I wrote some tips for survival. They were all true and exceedingly helpful. But oh, how much I’ve learned in the last few …

Drink the coffee and do the things | Leaving your baggage at the door

One morning, I hit a deer on my way to work. Understandably, I was a bit scattered when I walked in the front door of my school. A student immediately cornered me for help on his Atoms and Period Table study guide for the test I'm giving on Wednesday while another student tried to explain why …

Even Jesus said No | An Ode to the Over-Committed

This morning, I walked up to my pastor and said, "Find me some help in Children's Church, or I quit." Whoa, friend. Let me start from the beginning. I need to be needed. I desperately want to be the person who swoops in a saves the day. I crave the kind of recognition that makes your ears …