I suppose if you’re not friends with me on Facebook, you think I’ve fallen off the world entirely. Not true. Just… that last week of work was crazy busy, and I spent the entire weekend de-stressing, and now I’m student teaching. I’ve only observed so far, but will start to get more involved soon. I’ve also been doing homework, and as soon as I’m done with that I need to start working on unit and lesson plans, so I probably won’t be taking too much time to blog. Or, at least, I probably shouldn’t.

Went out with and tonight to celebrate the start of student teaching (as well as the beginning of the last semester of school for both and myself). We got to talking (by way of a quantum theory discussion) about how there are two kinds of people, those who can accept the non-logical, and those who can’t. That isn’t the best way to put it, so let me explain it another way. In college, I had to take a class called Missions and Evangelism. The basic philosophical discussion of this class was the tension between predestination (Calvinism), free will (Arminianism – its really hard to find a good source document that explains free will), and the call to spread the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). Now, all three are solid Biblical concepts, and while people can usually resolve two out of the three, it’s impossible to reconcile all three. There were people in my class who, by the end of the semester, were still struggling with the seemingly-unresolved nature of this tension. And then there were the other kind of people, those who figured out that, though the three ideas couldn’t be reconciled within the confines of human logic, they could somehow all exist within the realm of God. (If it really bothers you, perhaps this will help.)

It was a conversation that was perhaps not aided by the margaritas we’d consumed (especially the quantum theory part), but enjoyable nonetheless.

That’s probably the most philosophical I’ll get for quite some time. The class I’ll be teaching is studying the three branches of the government, so for the next few months, I’ll be thinking about the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the American government system. Fun stuff. Well, perhaps not fun, but at least relevant. Not all history can be easily sold as relevant.

Still busy at work (obviously, since I haven’t had time to post). Got caught up on emails, mostly, but am way behind on the rest of my social media.

I spend a lot of my time at work reassuring people that 1) there’s no need to panic, 2) it’ll all be OK, and 3) yes, I will be coming back.

In non-work news…

I finished up a skirt last night that I made in the fall. I’d tell you more about it, but I don’t have pictures, and can’t exactly remember what the specific pattern is. I only had to hem it, which was a 20 minute task – seemed silly to keep it waiting. (No, I didn’t hem the pants like I should have. Those are still waiting.) I also made 4 earring and necklace sets this weekend, to coordinate with my new skirts (two for the red one, one for the blue one, one for today’s rust one – some day I’ll have pictures of them for you, too).

Finally took down the Christmas tree on Sunday… but the boxes with everything in them are still in the living room, and I haven’t vacuumed the floor where the tree was. I’m getting to it, I promise.

I have a bunch of stuff to write up on my practicum before I start student teaching – I should probably do that tonight before someone figures out that it’s not done yet.

I finished up my time at the middle school last Thursday and am very sad about that. It was a great experience, though, even that last day when I taught and totally bombed (it was a great learning experience, and I did a much better job the second time through). I’ve got to try and let go of the middle schoolers so I can adjust to high schoolers and not begrudge them – it’s not their fault they’re not as cool.

There might be other things to share, but the last week or so has pretty much been a blur, or at least that’s how it feels when I’m at work. I’m trying to have a very zen attitude, but it’s hard to do when other people are freaking out.

Whew! It’s amazing what I can do in 7 spare minutes!

I know, I know, I’ve been a bad blogger lately. But if you think this is bad, just wait until I start student teaching. That’s right, I got a placement for student teaching and start at the end of the month! I’m at the high school by my house (one block – awesome commute, no?), and I honestly don’t know much more than that.

Life was already operating in a higher gear, since this month I’m trying to get my full 40 hours in at work while only being in the building 3 days a week. Since Tuesday (when I learned I’d be student teaching this semester), I’ve had to kick it up another notch, since I have less than 3 weeks to prepare myself, my job, and my life for a 3-month interruption from normalcy. This means working like crazy when I’m in the office to finish up projects, get them to a point where they can be turned over to someone else, brainstorming ways for my responsibilities to be covered, etc.

While not at work I’m supposed to be getting my electronic folio all done, but I haven’t made much progress on it this month. They told us to finish up the “classroom” half of it before student teaching, and while I’ve got a lot of information in my portfolio, it’s not nearly where I’d like it to be. But I haven’t had time to work on it because I’ve been squeezing in hours of work (a lot of transcription) so I don’t have to use vacation hours. I also don’t have Christmas presents for and yet (sorry, girls!) and we should probably get together before the end of the month. And my house should be clean and office organized (need to put away all those sewing projects that I probably won’t have time to work on). Oh, and it would be nice to finish the business-appropriate articles of clothing in various stages of completion so that I look professional at school.

Conveniently, I have a three day weekend, so I have a little extra time to play with. Alas, classes start tonight, which means leaving work early, driving to school, attending one class, leaving an hour early to walk down the hall to attend another class (for which I’ll be an hour late) – this is seriously the arrangement my two professors came up with for this problem. And I’ve got to spend some time figuring out exactly what I’m going to do for 15-20 minutes with the 6th graders on Tuesday, because I’ll be teaching (part of the lesson) again, this time part that I’ve created.Yay! Besides just generally liking the teacher I’ve been with, the students, and the school, I’ve also loved that I’ve become so much more comfortable in the classroom and am no longer afraid of student teaching. Of course, there’s a big difference between 6th graders and the 9th / 12th graders I’ll be student teaching, but any extra confidence I can get is needed. Oh, and I should probably take down the Christmas decorations before decides that I’m crazy, lazy, or both.

OK, I’ve now spent way more time than I should have (time that I didn’t really have), and so I must get back to other things. I was supposed to have pictures of my two new skirts, but I haven’t taken those yet. And pictures from the recent tree trimming (looks awesome!), but I don’t have time for that. Maybe next week, but I’m making no promises.

Yes, yes, I know it’s been, like, forever since I last blogged. I have explanations. Not excuses, but explanations.

One: Last week, was sick, and as he was healing I seem to have caught some of his cold. Or maybe a different cold. Can’t be sure. I didn’t do much all weekend long, but started feeling better on Tuesday morning when it was time to go to work. Of course.

Two: I have taken a database project upon myself at work that I promised would be done by the end of January (which may have been too ambitious – it’s too early to tell). I am at the terribly boring and tedious part of the project, and I’m afraid that if I pause too long to browse the internet or otherwise have fun, I won’t go back to the terrible stuff.

Three: I’m working 9-hour days in January, in order to make up the hours that I’m at the middle school. I asked for this. I’ll also be doing some work from home.

Four: Life has otherwise been fairly boring. The most exciting thing in Minnesota might be the weather, which has been very weird this winter so far. Last Thursday I went to ‘s for Christmas ( kept his sick self at home) and had a fun time. I posted pictures to Flickr but haven’t had the time to blog them. came over on New Year’s Eve, and we had guacamole, glogg, and watched some movies. Totally missed that whole ball drop thing. I made a new skirt and wore it on Wednesday, but didn’t get pictures yet. Did my nails to match, and am totally in love with this manicure. I might never take it off (we’re on day 3 and still no chips!). I have some photos from my iPhone that don’t adequately capture their beauty.

So, there you have it. And now I should get to work on that less than fun project. I will leave you with a link to one of my awesome Christmas gifts from : History of the Political Parties. Instant social studies classroom mix; just add classroom.

Side note: Had glogg for the first time this weekend (using this Saturnus Glogg concentrate I’d been given a year or two ago) and discovered it’s fabulous (best way to consume red wine ever), and am now disappointed because I can’t seem to find it anywhere in a store near me. I know it’s sold at stores that are not in Minnesota, but it’s not on Amazon and only online at one retailer that I’ve not heard of before). Still looking – haven’t given up hope yet.