What A Difference a Dollar Can Make!

So I must admit, I treat myself once a week to some kind of greasy, fattening, delicious breakfast before work.  When I roll through the Starbucks drive-thru, I leave with my hot chocolate and cinnamon swirl coffee cake.  If I hit up the Chick-fila , I’ll leave with my chicken mini meal complete with hash browns and orange juice.  At either restaurant, I’ll drop anywhere from $3-5 bucks each time.  Now, that $3-5 buck breakfast is not a necessity by any means.  I choose to indulge because I feel like I “deserve” it, like I worked hard enough to “earn” myself a little fattening goodie, a guilty pleasure, if you will.  As I check my account balance each month, it seems that I tend to spend roughly $25.00 on “fun” food.  That’s roughly **GASP** $300.00 a year!  Try as I might, sometimes that McDonald’s jingle “Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba I’m lovin’ it” just pulls me in! 

I connect my personal choices for breakfast “treats” each week to the choices that my students get when they get off the bus, van or when they arrive by car each week to school.  From August-June students in my school system have access to free-or-reduced breakfasts and lunches.  It’s amazing to see how many students participate in these programs.  I offer my kiddos time in the mornings to have a healthy snack as we work on our math lessons or reading lessons.  I feel that each year, more and more students will bring their breakfasts from the cafeteria in the mornings as their “snack”.  This is alarming, because it leads me to believe that students aren’t being fed at home before school.   It also causes me to wonder, “Are they getting the necessary meals that they need at night?” I think the scariest thing of all is what these particular kids do to get their meals in the summer.  How do these children eat when school is out for the summer?  Two meals that are usually prepared for them aren't as available in the summertime, unless parents can provide their children transportation to locations that prepare summer meals.

In response to this issue, a friend of mine and Cruz’s, Ray Wright, has spearheaded a campaign to combat against childhood hunger.  Ray is a pit crew coach, and member for RCRRacing in Welcome, NC.  Although I don’t know what Ray’s day looks like from the time he arrives to work until the time that he leaves, I do know that he spends a great amount of his own time promoting Pit Stops for Poverty (PSFP)on Facebook, on Twitter and at the track each weekend.  Alongside Ray is Cruz.  He has taken the initiative to help out with Pit Stops for Poverty digging through his closet, finding old crew shirts, gloves and other pit crew items to sale to raise money.  He helps Ray on the Pit Stops for Poverty Twitter and Vine accounts.  Together, they have really worked to organize a wonderful project to provide needy children with meals.  For those of you who watch NASCAR every week, it’s not just the drivers that make the sport what it is.  It’s the pit crews and the race crews who work the behind-the-scene magic as well.  On top of all of their current responsibilities, many of the RCR Racing pit crew and race crew members have taken their time to sale some of their old gear at the track to raise money.  They have tweeted and re-tweeted Pit Stops for Poverty tweets, promoting this organization’s excellent message to virtually anyone in the world.  They have gone above and beyond the call of “duty” if you will, and have put their own money into this great cause.

Well, because I'm a past math teacher, I have to throw in a tiny math lesson.  If you go back to my **GASP** roughly $300.00 per year that I tend to spend on breakfast "treats" I could have been giving just half of that to organizations like Pit Stops for Poverty.  If I donated $150 over the course of the year, I could provide funding for 1,050 meals for needy children.  How in the world would $150 make that many meals?  Well according to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, only $1 can provide enough funding to prepare 7 meals.  Take my $150 and multiply it by 7 and you have 1,050 meals! 

Not only do race fans have the ability to donate, but anyone can!  I know some folks aren’t into the NASCAR, but would still like to donate, you can access the link to Pit Stops for Poverty below and check out the details on childhood hunger statistics, interviews/videos of Ray Wright discussing Pit Stops for Poverty(PSFP) and how one dollar can truly make a difference!

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC: http://www.hungernwnc.org/

Twitter handle @stops4poverty

Vine: Pitstops for Poverty

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pit-Stops-for-Poverty/465490813538304?fref=ts

Pit Stops for Poverty(PSFP): http://www.pitstopsforpoverty.com/#

Article on PSFP from PitTalks: http://www.pittalks.com/2013/05/21/pit-stops-for-poverty-rcr-crews-looking-to-help-second-harvest-food-bank/

Article on PSFP from RCR Racing: http://www.rcrracing.com/news/index.cfm?cid=51961

WXII12 Video: http://www.wxii12.com/news/local-news/piedmont/Pit-Stops-For-Proverty-raising-funds-for-food-bank/-/10703612/20288548/-/oq391/-/index.html

Music

Music.  The intentions of music probably date back to pre-Biblical times that provided believers to a gateway to communicate with God, or whatever higher being that was believed to be.  Now, music seems to encompass multiple forms.  Some music is written to purely entertain.  Beats are created and mixes are stirred up to catchy rhythms that get people moving with friends, family or just by themselves…in their underwear…dancing in front of the mirror.  Other music is used with children or young adults to learn new concepts in a classroom.    For whatever reason music exists in history, I personally find music to be somewhat of a way to get my thoughts out of my head without juxtaposing the words and transposing the meanings of what I’m thinking, feeling or wanting to say.

I ramble on about music to set a point, I promise!  This past weekend, I spent a lot of time painting doors at our new home.  (By the way, for those of you who want to hang out this summer and I don’t answer your calls or texts on the first try, it’s safe to say that I’m covered in primer or latex paint at the time.  Not trying to screen a call, I swear!)  I spent most of that time by myself.  I don’t mind my “me” painting time.  It allows me to mindless brush (or slop) the paint on the door and to focus on the strokes.  Vertical strokes go UP the beadboard inserts while horizontal strokes go ACROSS the headers and footers of each door!  I was listening to the new Q104.1 and there was the weekend countdown from current country singles.  Starting at #30, the DJ’s worked their way down to #1.  Honestly, I stayed and painted the entire time, and heard all thirty songs.  There were some fun snippets of  “Guess that Year!” in between the countdown.  One particular song popped up that I haven’t heard in quite some time.  But as soon as the song came on, I pictured myself back to the last place I had been when it came on and I truly listened.

May 1999.  I’m at my 8^th grade graduation dance dressed in a hunter green, floor length gown that I had worn in my first cousin’s wedding.  I remember my hair was literally stacked on top of my head, chocked full of bobby pins that found their way out down in my dress and on the floor the entire night.  The stylist had put baby’s breath in my hair and created a shelf with my ridunculously-thick bangs.  I’m pretty sure I snuck on some mascara, although I am fairly certain I hadn’t started wearing make-up yet.  My school’s theme was “I Hope You Dance” and on that first song, it was obviously important that Lee Ann Womack belt out her top single as daughters danced with dads and sons danced with moms.  I remember this experience, because I got to dance with my dad.  This was something I don’t think I had ever done before, and it was a truly wonderful experience.  The lyrics and music blared in the background of that poor acoustic-deprived gym.  Balloons dotted the ceiling and a white handmade-bridge invited guests and their families into the gym over a makeshift stream.  Fans dabbled with twirling ribbons and those ribbons danced as long as the families did that night.  I don’t remember seeing anyone around my dad and I as we danced, but I remember crying like a baby because the lyrics to a song touched my heart. 

In the future, once Cruz and I finally set a date for our wedding, there will be more music to think about.  I know I’ll be choosing some awesome Pop2k hits from my “prime” as well as some good ol’ country that gets the boots a-stompin’.  There will be some oldies, but goodies, and of course the “Cuban” (Cupid) Shuffle will be thrown in there too.  But there’s one song that I am pretty sure of that my dad and I will dance to, and that’s Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance”

I’ll leave you with the lyrics to this special song.  I love you dad!

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'
Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw

Finding My Niche Again...

Oh, Hi.  Yeah, it's been a whopping 2 months. I know that for me, life has been 110% hectic since my last post of a life-changing situtation which has been a great and wonderful transition into my late 20's. Just so you know, I'm still chewing on that one, and truly enjoying every. single. bit. =)

Regardless, I think today I'll share an experience I had this past weekend.  I ran into a past colleague in Target with her daughter, a brand new teacher.  Just as new teachers go, its a tough, tough world to jump into such a professional career without the "professional career" benefits.  You get a mentor to help, but chances are, that person isn't on your grade level.  You have teammates who can be of assistance, but only when they aren't drowning in their own layers of work.  You have administration to assist you with legalities, if they aren't in meetings.  Basically, good luck, because you've signed your life away to marry this profession.  In the 5 years that I've been in a classroom, I've learned that I over do everything.  I check, re-check and  triple-check.  Thanks to my dad, I've been encouraged to always put my all into my job, and I have personally found success in this school of thought.  However, it seems that I am fortunate compared to those around me.  I am fortunate that I have a team who have had my back when times have been tough with parents.  I have had an administration who cares about me, not just my EOG test score data.  I have had students and parents that overall, accept me for who I am and know that I do try my best for each and every one of them each and every day.  I hate it for the newbies.  Although everyone has to learn th reigns, it could be so much easier if there was a handbook for this profession.  Sorry Harry Wong, your time-classic "First Days of School" just isn't cutting it.  Yes, I am a hard critic.

My past collague's daughter had the same chipper, excited, I-can't-wait-to-have-my-own -classroom look  in her eye as we chatted about curriculum, classroom management and Common Core.  Sure, I did my share of complaining, but overall, I tried to maintain a positive outlook.  I realize that all jobs have their pitfalls, and that there is good and bad in any career choice that you make, but I realized that I'm missing that "new teacher" gleam.  Once I graduated from my Master's Program, I feel like I lost contact with some of my best resources for teaching any subject, not only reading.  I know I can improve my comfort level through a little recharging over spring break.  I can't wait for a bit of rest from the mental stress of my job and releave my physical stress on a paint roller and some iTunes action at our new place. 

I want to find my niche again.

That JUST Happened!

Yesterday, my life changed.  Yesterday the one thing I have wanted for the longest time, happened.  Yesterday, my friends, was a blur.

It wasn't a blur because my Holiday break is literally over tomorrow. (Insert sad face here) It wasn't a blur because we entertained for Cruz's family for our annual New Year's Eve Party. It wasn't a blur because of the champange consumption to top off the New Year. I've determined that it was a blur because friends, as I compose this blog post, I am now going to become Mrs. Joseph Cruz Gonzalez.

I woke up this morning (unusually early, might I add) getting out of bed the same way, except today, I slipped a diamond ring on my left hand.  Talk about INSANE! I'll admit, I had played this out in my head and what I had thought would happen a few times.  Now that it's here, talk about surreal. 

As you know we jumped deep into designing, financing and building our own dream home around two years ago.  I  thought we were crazy at times, because I was juggling a full time teaching job, a part time graduate school load and making house decisions about things I had NO CLUE about.  Cruz carried on with his job throughout the week and traveled almost every weekend full time on the Nationwide Series while he was invited to be back up for the Sprint Cup series.  Thinking about a wedding at this point in our lives would be an overload, for sure.  Now that graduate school is done and we've gotten through a big chunk of major house decisions, HELLO PLANNING!

I admit I've worn a smile since yesterday morning.  I can't stop glancing and my ring finger.  It feels strange to know that I'll get to be the bride, have the showers, enjoy the day.  I want to relish in the joy that this chapter of my life has to offer.  I am beginning my happily ever after.

Counting Down to a Break

Well, it's finally here...my Winter BREAK! Yahooooooooooooo, let me sing it from the rooftops =)

For those of you who are in education, you know that the week before Christmas can test your patience. Even the fullest of full moons don't touch the amount of nuttiness that even the best students produce during this particular time of the year. Sugary snacks atop sugary snacks for sometimes day-after-day-after-day can amount to one of the highest sugar rushes and energy bursts possible. I can't lie, I'm glad to be cozied up in my pajamas on the couch, Christmas tree lit and candles burning. Now if only my Duplin Scuppernog would hurry up and chill, we'd be set.

As I reflect over the past hours before our Winter break, I am thankful for the nuttiness. Today at 10:00 AM our entire school was invited to the gym to participate in a sing-a-long. Students filed into the gym, excited as could be (post-sugary snacks, day two). Teachers sat along the edges of the long rows of hyped up kids, some grading papers, some checking cell phones, some singing along with the students. Now, I admit, I've never been the biggest fan of singing children. Children who sing in large masses usually begin to scream and to me, that's not pleasant to listen to. I typically pack my grade book and a pen and get my grading done while they enjoy. I had these trusty items with me, however, for whatever reason; I didn't have quite the interest in spelling scores today. As the children sang their racket for all to hear, I found myself in tears. It wasn't from the decibel level, but more so, that I had the opportunity to hear these happy, exuberant voices. As I took in the sights and sounds around me, I thought about two things:

1) This sing-a-long was more than likely the ultimate fun for any one child in that gym today. Looking across the sea of kids, I saw so many bright smiles as they sang along to the lyrics of "Jingle Bells" and "Here Comes Santa Claus" I remember how excited I was to begin the Winter break as a child with special Christmas programs at school. I remember thinking of these programs as a "kick-off" to the Christmas season for my family and I. These were the times that I got to spend with my friends before being gone for a week-and-a-half. As adults, that time goes by so quickly, but to a child, that time creeeeeeeeeps by. Throughout the rest of the day, even my "big" 5th grade kiddos could be heard humming to the tune "Must Be Santa". To a teacher who is counting down her hours, this is music to her ears!

2) I am so fortunate to work at a place where I feel safe and cared for. After the tragedies of a mere week ago in Newtown Connecticut, we have all been a little jumpy. My school is a wonderful place to be, and I am so thankful this time of year to spend my time there. We all complain about Common Core, PLC meetings, no time for planning, lack of duty free lunch, etc., etc., etc., but what I have come to realize is that I am very well taken care of. The students who attend my school are taken care of. We all work ours off to take care of theirs.

So as I looked across the 600+ loudly singing voices in the hot gym today at 10:20 AM, I decided that recording my kids' spelling test grades could wait. I could grade them over a glass of wine sometime this week. What was important was taking in the moment. The here and now is all that we are ever blessed with. No one really knows what tomorrow holds, and hey, why not sing off key every once-in-a-while? I'm sure Santa doesn't mind. =)

If I don't get the hankering to write again before the holiday, Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Tis' the Season...

Well, my two readers, the Christmas season is upon us.  Even before Halloween came and went, Christmas items were up for sale.  Everywhere you look now, you see colors of red, green and the twinkle of lights.  Inflatable Christmas scenes dot yards while you can see the glow of trees in windows of homes as you drive by at night.  I love the holiday season.  I love the commercial side of it...and I don't mean the getting.  I love the giving.  Nothing makes me happier than to give someone a gift that really makes them happy.  There's something about doing things for others that makes me feel worthy and needed.

As Cruz and I were putting up our tree (for the last time, might I mention, in our townhome...yay!) we got into the conversation of helping others.  Over the past couple of months, he and some of his co-workers have been collecting items and taking them to homeless people throughout Winston Salem.  During their trips, they began giving out food items, water, personal hygiene items and other small tokens to help those who don't have anything to make it comfortably through the day. During our tree trimming, Cruz asked me that his co-worker had wanted to know if there were any families at my school who could use donations for the holidays.  As I continued to string the white lights on my matchy-match, commericalized tree, I became overwhelmed with emotion.  Although I know that Christmas is a season for "giving", I am very guilty of thinking of giving a wrapped trinket, a hand-made ornament or a scarf to a friend or loved one.  His question made me step back out of the commerical side of Christmas and really think about what's truly important.  As cliché as it is, giving to those who have nothing is what the season is really about.  Do I need a Christmas tree with matching ornaments in my townhome? No. Do I need Black Friday shopping deals at 2:00am? No. Do I need to hang stockings from my bookcase to fill with little "stuffers"? No. All of these things are luxuries.  I am so very fortunate to be able to acquire all of these commercial Christmas traditions when there are folks outside right now as I blog without much more than the clothes on their back. 

I want to continue giving.  I want to make a difference in the life of someone who hasn't had the blessings that I've had.  I want to continue to serve others and feel worthwhile.  I want this last Christmas in my townhome to be the best Christmas yet.  Together, I know that my family and I can sponsor those who are not as fortunate as I am.  Happy Holidays...and tis' the season to give!

“Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give.”
― Ben Carson

A Positive Change

Today, in my language arts classroom, our discussion turned to volunteering time for those in need.   Students spent time in class connecting their lives to the lives of the characters in our anthology story.  Sometimes, as a teacher, you hear a student begin a story and you just know it's gonna take a while.  I had that initial feeling with one particular student, but chose to refrain, because this child needs to be heard. 

The child shared that he/she and his/her family were walking to eat dinner one night and was apporached by a homeless "hobo".  This child offered his/her own personal money to this stranger, not even knowing the good that he/she did for that person that day.  With details left aside from this child's particular story, it sometimes takes me a day with my kiddos in a classroom disucssion about "hobos" to get back to what really matters: listening to how innocent and wonderful children truly are. At the end of this child's story, others piped up that this individual had made a great choice.  I saw the self-esteem boost waaaaaay up, so I threw my initial plan book ideas out the window and we continued our conversations of helping others, especially those who are in need.

I let this instance play back in my head again and again today.  I am sometimes caught in a rut, and it takes refreshing days like today to remember why I do this job, and why I put myself and my loved ones aside when I stay later and later to get work done.  Some of these children are not appreciated.  Some of their families see them just as a nusance and another mouth to feed and body to clothe.  Some parents don't provide their children any support at home.  This is where I come in.  Besides teaching the ABC's and 123's, I teach students that what they have to say is important.  Students' personal connections to the classroom are necessary and should always be appreciated.  No matter how outlandish the story.

In addition to today's discussion, I thought of two recent news videos that have captured the good in others.  In the midst of election slander, it's delightful to see videos such as these below.  If you have time, watch both of these.  Both sure made me feel better.  I am thankful for a positive change.

Teen With Cerebral Palsy: Homecoming King

High School Students Salute Veterans on their Day Off

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe