Something new...

While at Five Below this past weekend (one of my favorite stores!) I found a book for $5 called "400 Writing Prompts". I decided to pick this up so I could use it for my blog. Whenever I hit a writer's block, I'll open the book up and find something to write about! This will hopefully help me to continue producing new content on a regular basis!

So, here is the first prompt I have decided to write about: If you knew it would be published, name someone (alive or dead) whose biography you would love to write. You would have full access to their life.

Hands down, I would definitely write a biography about Kelly Clarkson!!! Ever since I saw her win American Idol, I have had a huge girl crush on her!!! I didn't hear about American Idol until the season one finale for some reason, so I didn't get the chance to see her perform on live TV or vote for her. But I've been following her ever since and think she is great!!

She's so humble and down to earth. She'll never forget what got her to the place she is at today. There was a lot of controversy years ago when she came out with the song "Breakaway". People said she was trying to "breakaway" from her Idol ties. But she would never do that because she knows that without American Idol, her life would be completely different!

She also doesn't care what the media thinks about her weight. Her weight has definitely been a hot topic with the media but she just brushes it off. She may not be a size 0, but who cares! She's healthy and happy and that's all that matters. People who waste their time body shaming celebrities must not have anything better to do with their lives.

And along with being a successful singer, and now a children's author, Kelly is a great mother! She has 2 kids of her own with her husband Brandon Blackstock and 2 step-children. Both of her kids are right around the same ages as mine, so I think that's pretty awesome!!

Kelly's new CD "Meaning of Life" comes out October 27th and I am so excited for this! This is her first CD with Atlantic Records. She was previously signed with RCA Records, the record label that she was with ever since winning American Idol. So be prepared to hear a different side of Kelly with this CD. She says about this album This isn't a record I could have made at the age of 20. This is a record you make when you've lived." She has also said that she had more creative freedom with this one than she did when she was working with Idol's record label. So stay tuned to hear more great things from Kelly Clarkson! Here is one of her first singles from her new album, "Love So Soft."

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you are having a great week so far! I substituted yesterday and Monday and now have today and tomorrow off, then I have another job on Friday. I'm really enjoying being back in the classroom. It is making me remember why I went into teaching in the first place. I just really enjoy seeing students learn and understand the concept you are teaching them. When they reach that "Ah-ha" moment and it finally "clicks", that's what is really great about the profession!

So getting to be back in the classroom, even if it is a different classroom each time I go into a school, it is great because I still feel like I'm helping students learn. I also feel like I'm learning because it is getting me back into the education field, which has changed so much since I've graduated. And it's only going to continue to change with all the new technology that we have and will come out in the future.

Now I am off to do some of the housework that I haven't been able to do the past 2 days! Good thing I have my cleaning schedule to help me stay on track!! Have a great day everyone!!!

Why teach?

I was just reading through a magazine that I get from my alma mater and it had an article about being an education school. The most popular major at Millersville University is education and it's what I went there for. The dean of College of Education said that he still thinks that their reputation as a teacher's college still stands. But he did note that there has been a decrease in enrollment of the education programs and certifications are also down. He contributes that to the fact that "teaching is not viewed as positively as it once was. A lot of kids today seem to be turned off by the idea of being teachers. Had they been born 20 or 25 years ago, they might be [more willing]."

He has a really great point because teachers are paid poorly for the amount of work they are required to do. A lot of people think teaching is great because they have their summers off but what they don't realize is that teaching is more than an 8 hour a day job. You can't just go to school at 7:30 am and leave at 3:30 pm and think you are done for the day. There's a lot of paperwork to grade and you more often than not are bringing your work home with you.

So do I regret getting a teaching degree? Nope. If I could go back in time and reselect my major it would still be education. I love working with children and don't know what else I would do with my life. Yes it is true that I haven't had a full-time teaching position yet, I have just been substitute teaching. I substitute taught for about a year and then took 3 years off when I had my first born and my second. As I posted recently, I just started subbing again and I'm so glad I did. It's giving me a chance to get back into the education world because I'm hoping to eventually get a full-time teaching job once my kiddos are older.

If you are reading this and have ever considered pursuing education as a career, I highly encourage you to go through with it. We're at a time in education right now where there is a shortage of teachers and even substitute teachers. As the dean of the College of Education and Human Services at MU said "Teachers prepare the next generation of students to participate in our democracy, in our society, and in life." Teaching is so important and if we have no one pursuing teaching degrees, who is going to teach our next generation? Because of all the events going on in this world today, I think there is no better time that we need qualified teachers so that our next generation can be taught properly.

My 100th Post!!!

Happy Thursday everyone!! This is my 100th post on this blog! Thank you to anyone out there who has been reading my posts. I hope you are enjoying them and get something from them. I know I haven't been as consistent with posting as I keep saying I'm going to be. But we all know that life gets busy!

I'm still getting adjusted to being a part-time working mom. I've only had 2 subbing jobs so far (one of them being a half day so it was super easy), but I've got more scheduled. And I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep my house organized and clean on the days that I'm not working and then I also need to start doing educational activities with my 3 year old. She's been watching a Leap Frog movie on Netflix a lot about the alphabet and she can now identify most of the letters! There are only like 4 or 5 letters that she doesn't recognize, so I think that's amazing!!!

What I'm currently working on is getting my house in tip top shape! I want it to be cleaner than it's ever been!! My hubby is away for work (yet again) and I want him to come home to the cleanest house ever!! He does so much for our family and I just feel like it's my way of saying thank you. Without all his hard work at his job we wouldn't have half of what we have now. So I am super thankful for him each and every day, even though I may not tell him enough. If you're reading this hubby, I love you and miss you, can't wait to see you!!!

What are some of your best tips on juggling working part-time and being a full-time mom? Have a great day everyone!!!

The search is still on...

So we still haven't found a babysitter for Big E and Little E while I substitute teach, but we are meeting someone tonight and I have a great feeling about this one!! We met with 4 so far so hopefully this will be lucky number 5?

Finding the perfect babysitter is hard! You have to be able to trust whoever it is that you are leaving your children with. Then you also have to find someone in the right price range. You also have to make sure you can find someone who is willing to be flexible with your work schedule. I was going to only substitute on Tuesday and Wednesday, because that's what worked best for the first person we met, but now I'm realizing that I'm going to need to be more flexible than that. So, before even meeting this person tonight, I found out from them that they would be flexible with which 2 days a week she watches them, so I am happy to say I picked up my very first substituting position! I actually got 2, one in October and one in December!

So, fingers crossed that this one is a match! This past year or so has been the year of "things happen for a reason" for me and I believe that things didn't work out with the other 4 people we met with because this 5th one is the one! Have a great rest of your Wednesday, halfway to the weekend!