The Adventures of Miss England: "Dont not"

For you grammar Nazis who just had a stroke over my title...no it is not a typo.  I actually read something today that a student wrote, and it contained "dont not." I had a stroke.  I am by no means a grammar Nazis, but there are some things that drive me insane: double negatives, too, to, and two, there and their, were and where. GRRRRRRR.
Now I know we all make mistakes, and sometimes we write different things then what our minds think.  I get that, BUT writing has gone down the drain! I have made it my goal to force my students to do some type of writing activity outside of taking notes. Hopefully it helps.

We also had issues with the word suffrage. The students were assigned to create their own word map.  For those of you who do not know, word maps help the students define the word, and they draw a picture to represent the word....my students thought suffrage=suffering. Sigh. I promise we corrected them.

Also, my students thought that Uncle Sam was a human being...sorry to disappoint everyone be he was definitely created for advertisement.  We corrected them.

However, I do see a slight improvement in SOME of their work.  I think that having two teachers in the classroom has greatly helped certain students.  If only this could be possible for every classroom. 

But on the other hand, there are students (actually just one class) that I have no idea what to do to get them motivated.  Even the fear of failing the EOCT does not encourage them to listen or study...Sigh. Any pointers?


On a completely different note, I have been on a hard core diet..I know aren't we all surprised.  For those of you who can, you should definitely download My Fitness Pal on your phone.  It helps you keep up with your calorie intake and how much you exercise.  I have also being using a Jilliam Michaels' video...it kicks my butt every time, but I love it!!

6 months

This past Saturday was exactly six months till the big day! Josh and I were in complete amazement when this dawned on us.  Sunday we met with Margie from Trevitt Hall.  I had originally wanted to have the reception their but thought it was going to be WAY too expensive.  But I knew that I wanted her to do the decorations.  So we sat down with her and talked about how much it would be to have it somewhere else and her still do the decorations. She told us that it would be twice as much because she would have to find chairs and tables, and we would have to add in extra money for gas and labor cost......So we decided to have the reception at Trevitt Hall!!!! The place is gorgeous and very much how I imagined my reception to be.  She showed me different table arrangements and what my sweetheart table would look like. We also met with person who is catering the food and picked out what we wanted to eat.  I love the fact that they will do EVERYTHING for us! It makes it ten times less stressful. EEKKKK!!!!!

The only thing we have left to do is find a D.J. finish getting bridesmaid dresses, get tux,pay for Discovery Cove, and get the decorations for the church! 

I also realized that the Friday before one of my showers is Friday the 13th and the Friday before my wedding is Friday the 13th....how weird is that?

The Return of Miss England

Yes she has returned...and it was LONG over due. 

I am back at NMHS with Mrs. McClary, and I am LOVING IT! I missed the first day of school thinks to a wonderful UTI, but I was there bright and early the next morning.  These tenth graders are definitely a challenge for me. When I was out Southeast and Bagley I had some of the brightest students.  My seventh graders knew WAY more than about the Middle East than I do (they are also the ones who encourage me to read The Hunger Games).  I do have two classes of AP students, but the other four are regular students....this means you get some really smart ones, ones who try, ones who hate school, and ones who cannot find their way out of a brown paper bag.  BUT I do feel like I needed this.  I work well the students who are really trying but just aren't there yet.  It excites me to see the smile on their face when the finally do complete an assignment.  However there are those moments where I am like, "Did that really just happen?"  For an example:
Last Friday I was sitting at Mrs. McClary's desk grading tests.  Mrs. McClary was going over their warm-ups, when out of the corner of my eye I see a student stand-up raise his leg, and Chuck Norris kick are girl's water bottle off her desk. I thought he was trying to kick the girl, but apparently he was aiming for the water bottle....thank God he has good aim.
Mrs. McClary looked at him and said, "What demonic being possessed you into thinking that it was okay to do that!?!"
I of course did the inappropriate thing...I fell over laughing.  Keep in mind this was the VERY last class of the day and the very last day of the week. I was exhausted.

Speaking of exhaustion...I think body has found a whole new level of exhaustion.  7 a.m.- 4:15 p.m. is a long school day.  I also still have my Senior Seminar class and a Special Ed course that I have to take.  Last Friday I literally came home and was in bed by 8.  Actaully I think I have gone to bed at about 8 every night in the past week. Sigh......

2012..

Oh how I have waited for you! You might just be my favorite year!

We are officially wedding planning.  My aunts pretty much have my shower planned.  I have mixed feeling about this.  I hate being the center of attention, but I really want new stuff for the house. Speaking of house..Lisa bought me a bunch of picture frames and a shelving unit for our house, so it looks like someone actually lives there...besides Joshua.

Josh and I are finally going to register this weekend..he is just as excited about this as I am, probably because it is the only time that he gets a say so in this wedding.  We will have our honeymoon paid for by the end of this month. EEEKKKK!!! Please let the next six months FLY by!

With all the good things that will happen in 2012, this year has not started of the best.  My poor papa backed all into my car.  I have gone almost seven years without having so much as a scratch on any of my vehicles.  Then I chipped my tooth by biting down on a fork.  Nope it is not the same tooth that I just had the root canal on.  And today I woke up at 4 in the morning in severe pain from a UTI....GREAT!!!!!

December

I have been waiting for this month for so long......and now it is here.  Actually it is half way over with. Wow. Should have known the one the month I did not want to end is ending. Grrr

Christmas is by far my favorite time of the year. I love everything about it. Josh and I have of course already opened our stockings..and that boy did amazing this year! Tomorrow we are having our Christmas date, and I am pretty pumped about it.  We will definitly be eating at Buffalo Wild Wings tomorrow night. Yes this girl right here is beyond pumped!!!! Then we will open our gifts...once again I am pumped!

I told myself I would actually get some wedding planning done while I am off from school.  I have yet to do anything!!! Oh well...the honeymoon is planned, I have the dress, and my groom is amazing..that is all I really need. July cannot get here fast enough. Less than 7 months till we get to meet Baby Miller and I finally get married!!!

Distractions.

This weekend was pretty amazing! Although I have been studing for finals since Thursday, I took time this weekend away from studying.  Saturday I went with Mrs. Miller to look for her bridesmaids dress. Of course when she arrived at my house I rubbed her not-yet-present-baby bump. Then off to David's Bridal we went! This was by far the easiest shopping experience ever...why? Because Amy knew exactly what she wanted! And it look amazing on her! Now lets pray Baby Miller arrives as expected. If not, it will be okay, as long as she/he arrives safe and sound I will one happy girl (and Amy will be one happy momma)!

Saturday night I went to my future in-laws to watch the Ga game....we are just going to leave it at that...there is always next year.

Sunday was a full day of watching House (thank you Ed and Tabitha, Josh and I are addicted).  Of course I put of studying long enough and returend to it. 

I only have one final that I am actually worried about.  And when I realized I could not lose HOPE, I stopped worrying so much.  HOPE will also only pay for four more hours next semester, so even if I did lose it would not be that big of a deal. 

So today I am back to studying for the final that I have on Thursday...but of course life in general is WAY more interesting then Europe in the 20th century.

That light at the end of the tunnel...

I have a week and half left in this semester!!! I am once again doing my little happy dance!

The past couple of weeks have been slightly entertaining. First we got to meet that precious baby Rayne. She is beyond perfect. Josh now has baby fever, it is so cute!
Second, I took Josh shopping for Christmas gifts. We shopped for SIX hours and only bought two presents...Never again!!! I wil soo go by myself from now on. Third, we had Thanksgiving. I am more of Christmas person, but Josh loves it. So like I previously said I baked an orange cake and two chocolate pies. Fourth, I hard an allergic reaction to the antibiotic for my tooth. Which of course caused me to have a panic attack bc I have never been allergic to anything!!! Bubby was always the one who was allergic to everything.

No I am patiently waiting for the end of this semester. Life will be so much more entertaining when I am not worried about finals.

Tis the Season!

Although I love Summer, this time of the year is possibly my favorite. I love spending time with my family, even if they are a bit crazy.  I also enjoy cooking, yes cooking! It kind of relaxes me.  So with Thanksgiving around the corner I have been thinking of different things that I could cook.  For Josh's side I am baking his favorite: Orange Cake.  It is extremely easy to make, and he thinks it is the bomb, so WINNER! Yes I do hand squeeze an orange to make it better.

For my family's dinner, I am making my famous chocolate pie. Yes famous. My family is convinced it is the best (and papa accidentally said that it was better than my granny's).  I actually created this recipe on my own.  I love my Granny's and Mammaw's chocolate pie, but them being grandmothers, they do not have recipes for them.  So I came up with my own.

I have no idea what I am doing for Christmas yet.  I thought about making a chocolate cake with white icing and decorating it with snowmen, but I haven't decided yet. 

For those of you who love to bake, you should check out the Cake Doctor.  It helps you create cakes that taste homemade but come from a box. 

Crazy week

So I thought that I had this whole placement thing figured out.  I decided to stay with Mrs. Baggett...but of course it could not be that simple.  Well as of right now, I am back with Mrs. McClary at North Murray..at least I won't have to drive too far.

Then I week up this morning with a tooth ache.  I have been complaining about about this tooth ever since I had it filled.  I was actually convinced that they missed up my filling.  But this morning it was worse.  So of I called the dentist to make an appointment.  The x-rayed the tooth, and then the dentist says, "You have cracked the front of your tooth."
My response, "I don't play extreme sports, so how did that happened?"
"Do you grind your teeth?"
Oh...yea..about that...
I have been grinding my teeth since I was like six. Yes I have TMJ.  Have ever bothered to wear a night guard? Nope..of course not! Guess who now has a mouth guard? Yep me.
What made it better? That I have to have a root canal, and since the  canal is so small I have to go to a specialist.  Do you know when I can have it done...not till the end of the month. FML!!!!!!!

On a better note....AMY IS PREGNANT!!!!!!! Can you tell I am a bit excited? I have been worried that I would slip up and say something before she announced it to the world (thank you for finally doing that!). So now I have two reasons for the next Summer to get here, my wedding and the arrival of Baby Miller! EEKK!! And yes I am probably more excited about Baby Miller than my own wedding haha!

Roomie Time

After the stress of having to decide where I might student teach, it was nice to have some roomie time.  Okay so we have not lived together in like three years, but she will always be my roomie.  We spent most of the time working on our invitations and finaly have it figured out.

Today we went dress shopping.  It was extremely relaxing to just stand there not be the one forced into dresses.  But she ended up finding one that looks perfect on her! Now I just need to take my other three bridesmaids to get there dresses :)