Module 4 Task 1

During the group time, the teacher is walking around and stopping at each group. He asks questions to the group about explaining their thought process. He brings other questions to front about their calculations and encourages the students to work together to solve the problems. He also serves to clarify information about the initial question. The teacher ultimately guided the students in their understanding of the problems by being available to bounce ideas off of and also to question their own thought process.

After the group time the teacher leads the discussion without judgement. He listens to each group’s finding and scribes them on the board. He asks for clarification if the answers from the group are too vague. He is able to guide the students in their thinking to solve the problem without coming out and saying , “Yes this is right” or “No this is wrong”.

I saw the students were able to use calculators in their group efforts. This was a good idea so they could focus on the task and not the number crunching. I think in a classroom today it could have been taken further by using a computer program to visualize the box together and apart.

Baby planning

I have yet to tell anyone in my family, other than our parents, that the Hubs and I are planning on starting a family any time soon. I really would like for it to be a surprise. My mother is the oldest daughter and I am the oldest grandchild, which will make our child the first great grandchild. At Thanksgiving I couldn’t help but look around and wonder what the dynamics will be like with a new baby around here in a few years. The youngest child now is 5 years old and the second oldest is 21 years old (big gap huh? and I’m the oldest with an additional 6 years on the 21 year old) As I thought about it I became more excited for this whole process to begin. (Can’t we just go ahead and start?!?!?) But the gentle voice of the Hubs in my head reminds me, “It’s not long to wait.” This is true and in that time I can begin planning and preparing the way for baby.

The only problem is that there isn’t that much out there about preparing for baby. I wonder if this is because everyone is not married to the most wonderful and most planning Mr. Hubs. Before he even said yes to starting in the late spring of 2014 he wanted to chat and research how much everything would be and have a plan for child care (gosh its so expensive!) I read things that say “go to the doctor and get a check up” other things say start taking prenatal vitamins. I want a comprehensive list of everything I need to do and when. (I like list) Maybe like one of those you get when you get engaged and begin planning a wedding. So here goes my attempt of what I’ve done so far and maybe it’ll help someone else out there like me.

Preparing for The Making

4-6 months

*Budget: Start thinking about budget. How will you pay for everything you’ll need for before and after baby is born? (ie. hand-me-downs, coupons, gifts, saving money) Set a monthly budget for how much you will spend in your efforts to stockpile for baby. Think about a nursery budget to design your heart out within reason.

*Sleeping plans: Plan for where baby will be sleeping your home. Will there be a nursery? Are you adding a crib to your bedroom? Where will you be with baby most of the time?

*Health: Do you have illnesses that run in your family or maybe in your partner’s? Go to the doctor and talk to them about any health concerns you have now. Go to the dentist too! You won’t be able to have some things done while pregnant and your hormones will make you more susceptible to decay. Here’s more info about that from everydayhealth.com.

*Nutrition: Nutrition and exercise are always important, but might change or add something to your routine right now to help out later. There are a million articles about what foods are best to eat that make you more fertile but I have grown fond of babycenter.com’s article.

*Dream: No really, dream big. Make a pinterest board (they even have secret boards if you want to keep it a surprise) of everything you love and like. Be inspired and dream. Then, decide what is most important out of all that wonderful dreaminess.

Mama’s Vegetable Beef Stew

I am so excited about the upcoming holiday this week, Halloween! I haven’t had the urge to do any nail art recently but my excitement about Halloween has inspired me again. These are my nails to celebrate! So this is our first Halloween in our house. I’ve heard rumors that we get a lot of kids for trick-or-treating. I’m looking forward to this. Mostly because I will get to see how it feels to be apart of a holiday that is built around kids.

I am ready for my first child and am ready to start trying! We have decided to start trying in about 6 months. That will give us both time to start taking vitamins and making better choices for our health. I’ve already made some dietary changes as well as some changes in my activity levels. Walking and yoga have become a couple of things that I enjoy doing. Listening to music or talking to a friend have made the walking less tedious and more enjoyable. I have long since had an appreciation for yoga and the benefits of it on the body, now I just incorporate it into my daily routine. I have a night time yoga routine that has caused me to sleep so hard I don’t want to wake up in the mornings, yet when I do finally wake up I am refreshed and relaxed. That is a great advance from the position I was in just a few weeks ago.

With the cool air coming in I made one of my favorite things in this world, vegetable beef stew. My mother makes the absolute best but I took a go at it and was fairly successful, it tasted very similar to hers. (not quite as good mom 😉 ) Now before I post the recipe I want to state that I grabbed things that I had available in my pantry and you are encouraged to do the same. Being a stockpile couponer like myself is very helpful when the mood strikes for something like this.

Cook time: at least 45 minutes – 8 hours

Prep time: 5 minutes… how fast can you open your canned veggies?

Serves: 6-8 people

Calories: 433 calories for 2 cups of soup

1.5 lbs of stew beef

2 cans of tomato soup (i used condensed cause that’s what was in my cabinet)

1 can whole corn kernels

1 can green beans

1 can sweet peas

1 – 1 1/2 cups of carrots (I had fresh so that’s what i used. feel free to use canned.)

1 tbsp of parsley

1 tbsp of onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Brown off the stew beef  in a big stock pot. Cook until the meat is not gushing blood anymore and all sides are brown (about 10 mins). Remember that the whole purpose is to have tender beef so were just pre-cooking it here.

2. I drain about half of the fat off and leave the rest because I have high cholesterol and love to have a little meat juice in mine. Feel free to drain it off completely.

3. Add the meat back, with all other ingredients. Stir together and bring to a soft boil. Turn down to about medium low (you want it to be simmering) and put a lid on it.

4. Cook for as long as possible. (I let mine simmer for about 4 1/2 hours this time and stirred every 30-45 minutes.) While you are waiting for it to cook feel free to check in with friends on facebook and to catch up on pinterest. Don’t worry about the laundry, crying children, or mandatory errands. This is your time to cook so while it simmers away, do something for yourself so that you may simmer in your own awesomeness.

5. I made cornbread to serve with mine. (you can find that recipe on the side of the cornmeal bag 🙂 ) My husband went back for seconds, I had it for lunch the next day. I still have plenty for a whole 4 more meals.

If for some reason your family does not suck up all the goodness within a few days, freeze it! When those deep winter days come and all you want is a great cup of homemade soup, go directly to your freezer and thaw! The great thing about making this stew is that it is never the same twice, especially if you are using your pantry as the ingredients. Another fantastic thing about this, the leftovers get better and better because its been partying while in the fridge.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Feel the Burn

Ok its been one week since the beginning of my journey. I have been keeping up with my journey on Noom Coach and recommend downloading it. I reached level 5 and was so excited (I love games and being able to level up). This week has been pretty interesting. I have learned so far that:

*I think I am younger than what I am

*Encouragement can come from unexpected places

*Exercise videos on youtube should be pre-watched so that you don’t just stop and say “yeah no body can move like that in real life”

*Motivation and attitude are everything

I’ve tried my best to keep up my motivation and have a positive attitude. I have done a little better on my food choices this week and hope to continue. I realized that I have a tendency to not think about vegetables when it comes to meals, especially lunch time. So I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate them better for my health. I am pleased to announce that I have lost 2 lbs this week. But even though I had a small victory this week I did have a weak moment and ate the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge, which was like 1/4 of the tube. It was fantastic.

I started this whole beginning hiit training thing and got to day 3. I was trying to do too much after not exercising for about 10 months, therefore I had weak wobbly legs for 3 days straight. I worked through the first 2 days but just rested and stretched the last day. Now my legs are back to normal and I am feeling less than inspired to go work out again. I just spent about 2 hours reading pregnancy articles and setting up a new pinterest board for nursery ideas. So i should really have more motivation….

The days that I was most successful with exercising were days that I had already planned out, as an appointment with myself. With this in mind I am going to make a weekly workout plan so I can hopefully keep it up! So Sunday, Monday. Wednesday, and Friday I will be walking for at least 30 minutes. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I will be doing yoga for 20 minutes and a core workout. Other than that I going to stick with simple for right now. I need to get into a new schedule of life before completely rocking my world. So when this episode of Pretty Little Liars goes off, I’m off to go for a walk. Hopefully I can report another 2 lbs next week!

(encouragement and suggestions or advice is welcomed!)

Lose a person to gain a person

It’s been a while since I posted. I had a whole season of middle school volleyball with some goofy children. Now the season is over and I could almost say the same for this phase of my life. In just a few weeks it will mark one year of marriage to my husband. We’ve been together for 5 and a half years in all. We’ve decided that we are ready to start a family. We have had many discussions about what type of family and when but it has never seemed closer or more real than now.

I grew up knowing that I was here for two reasons to love others and to be a mom. More than anything it’s all I’ve ever wanted. I’ve been teaching for many years and most recently in a elementary/middle school which has led me closer to my career of teaching, but I still have a void. So as I begin to finish my bachelor degree in education I will also begin the life changing steps to become a mother.

I have a few things that I want to work on before we start trying for a child. One of them is my health. I am overweight and pre diabetic. I don’t want to have the same health concerns that I do now, while pregnant or with children. So my husband and I decided to implement our own little plan for getting healthier. Lose a person to gain a person. (Thanks for the title hubs!) I estimated the average person weighs about 150lbs. (Wikipedia says in America it is 164.7) Therefore if we both lose 75 we will have lost 1 person’s weight and would be more prepared to make a person. I am very excited about this plan we have devised. Now my husband and I both have decided to walk 3 days a week together, eat better portions and make better food choices. We are both different in our approach to exercise. He wants to be able to do it and enjoy something he likes. Yesterday we walked around the local shopping center and then went in the stores on our way back around. We spent about 20 minutes walking and then got to reward ourselves with a little shopping. This is my husband’s idea of what is most motivating.

I on the other hand like a competition. I like to see I can go further or faster or do more reps than the last time. I myself was an athlete when I was younger. I played AAU basketball for several years as well as rec league ball and school ball (sometimes all at the same time). In that time, I also played volleyball and was a trainer for the football team. I know what it takes to be an athlete and have stamina. I also know you have to continually push your self to be better than the day before. I know I have to continually reward myself with something I want and keep track of my efforts. For myself I am doing my own regiment outside of walking with my husband. I am going to put a $1 in a jar every time I lose a pound. I also intend on doing a variety of exercise so to get my body ready to carry a child. (I’ve heard that having good core muscles are important) I was playing around on my phone last night and came across an app that I like pretty good so far called Noom Coach. It keeps up with my food, exercise, and steps per day. I started late last night and found that it gave me options for reminding me to log my food. It also levels you up per activities that you complete. Also it gives you advice on picking out meals, exercising, and healthy choices. It automatically adjusted my calorie intake when I exercised yesterday. So far today it has given me information about finding time for yourself that does not including sitting in front of the tv. It also gave me information about what makes a great workout. Lastly, it gave me information about how I don’t have to go hungry to lose weight.

This is a great journey for me to embark on and I want to have the best for me and my children. I hope to bring you some entertainment and great deals as I go. What do you think? Any advice from already parents or others on a weight loss journey?

Nails of the week 9/8

  This week’s nails were inspired by one of my pins on pinterest. I used Sally Hansen “First Kiss”, SinfulColors “Black on Black”, Revlon “Spirit”, and Nicole OPI “Top Coat Plus”. Every one of the colors that I used I got on clearance this summer at Rite Aid. They had a great sale going when you spend $30 in nail polish and supplies you got $10 back. I bought about 15 polishes, most of them brand new and really only spent $20 with the $10 reward.

Recently I’ve started following some great nail artist on Instagram and have gotten some great ideas and tutorials from them. Here are some of them that I highly recommend! Go follow and follow me while you’re there!

*chalkboardnails

*stormandstars

*sparrownails

*workinggirlnails

 

This weekend has been wonderful in both weather and time spent. I had a good little while to spend with my husband. We work opposite schedules and his weekend off is the only time I get to spend with him anymore. He is an avid movie collector so we took some time on Saturday to watch a couple of movies. Django Unchained and Epic were on the menu. Django Unchained was pretty good in my opinion. Unfortunately, I fell asleep during Epic. I was exhausted, so it had nothing to do with the movie. I love crawling up on the couch with our dogs and watching movies. Its one of the great cheap dates that we have. Since he is such a big movie guy, we always have the newest movies to watch. He does a fantastic job on his vlog on youtube. He gives updates throughout the week on the cheapest deals on movies.

September’s Monthly Menu

At the Becoming Conference a few weeks ago I had been given an idea by the Freezer Fairy to make a monthly meal plan. I’ve been really slack these past few years on making meal plans and shopping list. Its ended up costing me several trips to the store, several trips to the local fast food place, and spending way more than my budget. I know how to properly put up a menu, make a shopping list, and stick to it. So when I heard this idea of a monthly menu I figured I’d try it. So last month I planned out, by week, our meals. It was a wonderful thing to come home and know I’m making xyz for dinner. I thought it would bug me because my whims may change but I loved not having to think about anything. I also loved not having to answer that dreaded question What’s for dinner? So I sat down this and wrote out a menu for the whole month of September.

My husband and I decided that we were going to eat chicken and fish mostly. Its cheaper and its healthier. So after Labor Day (we had to cook out on Labor Day) we are not going to eat any red meat, as much as possible. I remember back when I was a child we went through a time where we were eating chicken every night, literally. My mother got very creative with the ways that she made it but I often got tired of chicken. I’m hoping that by mixing in fish (I adore all things fish) and pizza I won’t tire from chicken. Everything gets better in practice so I should be fairly good at cooking chicken in different ways by the end of this month. Now, I am not a great chef by any means. I have a few good meals I can make and only a couple of family recipes. So I enlisted the help of Pinterest for meal ideas. So each week there is a new meal to try from pinterest. I’ll give you guys an update each week with how those turn out.

Nails of the week

This past week was the first week back to school in my district. It has been a whirl-wind of crazy since Monday, hence the silence. My apologies! I coach middle school volleyball and the season started Monday with practice and Tuesday with our first game! It has been very exciting and quick. The girls are great and improving each practice. There’s a lot of work still to be done. Tomorrow is our first fundraiser of the year, serve-a-thon. I’m always trying to get new inventive ideas for fundraising, especially with the audience that I have to work with. I was reminded when my adopted son had a free throw-a-thon for his AAU ball team, about fillintheblank-a-thons. I started thinking about how I could use it for volleyball, hence the serve-a-thon. So for those of you who are unaware of how a serve-a-thon works, the players go out with a sheet and have people pledge to give them so much per successful serve. (ie. $1/serve). After the allotted time the players come and serve the predetermined number of serves at practice. The number of successful serves is written by the person that is verifying the numbers (its-a me, the coach!) on the form.  The players then go and collect their pledges. If Aunt Jeane pledged $1/serve and SuzyAnn served 20 successful serves, Aunt Jeane owes SuzyAnn $20. Its great for everyone all around. The team doesn’t have to put any seed money out to start. The players become confident by enlisting people who believe in their abilities. The parents don’t have to worry about giving out products to co-workers. The players get more practice at something that is vital to their game. I hope that we are able to get enough money raised to get team sweatshirts and a volleyball cart. If you would like to donate just let me know! 😉

 

So anyways, I did not take a picture of my nails from last week. They were gold with a blue glitter on top (my school’s colors), fairly simple compared to some designs for me but really unimpressive too since they started chipping day 2. This week I decided to try a color that was given to me by my 8 year old sister-in-law. It is very shiny and bright. Its not really my style, but I’ve done them 3 times in 24 hours and they will stay as they are for this week. Any recommendations for next week’s nail design?

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to share some nail art I did about 6 months ago, some that I’m fairly proud of. This was something I found on pinterest and wanted to replicate. They were in honor of my best friend’s birthday. Back when I was in high school he died at 14 from a heart attack. He had an irregular heart beat and had just come out of a routine surgery. It was devastating. I was 16. At his funeral, his mother tells the story that she was just asking for a sign from God and he sent this orange Monarch butterfly that wouldn’t leave her alone. I remember being there that day and seeing the butterfly flutter aroundall the people, especially his mother. Ever since then I have always associated butterflies with his spirit. So I did my nails like that for the week of his birthday. I miss him everyday.

 

 

 

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I love Target clearance

Every week I love to go by my local Target and see what kind of clearance deals they have. On my way home from my daughter’s volleyball game (proud momma syndrome in full effect) I decided to run by Target and see what they had in store. While searching the aisles I found a great deal in the freezer section. The garlic butter pepperoni pizza Lean Pocket family pack (12 sandwiches) was on clearance for $4.98. Original price on these is usually $10 at least. It was the last one and my frugal-senses starting tingling. “I bet I could get a better price on this,” I thought.

Of course I can with my handy dandy coupon saving ways! I did not have my coupons with me so I used two apps on my phone that I love for saving money. Shopkick is great! They use gps and wireless to give you points when you walk into certain stores. Usually Target gives about 50 points per walk-in. During your time in the store you can also scan items to get extra points. Now when you have accumulated enough points you can buy gift cards to stores.

500 points ——-> $2

1250 points —–> $5

2500 points ——> $10

5000 points ——->$20

It doesn’t take long to accumulate points just walk into stores each week and even scan a few items. This extra few minutes in the store each week is worth a great amount of savings.

The other app that I love to use is Cartwheel. It is a newer app to me but I am loving it. Cartwheel is exclusively for Target. In Cartwheel many everyday items have discounts from 5% – 20% off. You can add items to your cartwheel account and then it generates a scan code for the cashier. The discounts are good for multiple uses until the coupon expires. My husband loves this app because he is an avid movie collector and likes to use the coupons on movies that would otherwise not have any discounts.

So after checking both apps I had a $2 gift card on Shopkick and 10% off from Cartwheel. Which ended up costing $2.49 plus tax for the Lean Pocket family pack, YAY! Great deal!

The Sprinkles Cake

Yesterday was one of my co-worker’s birthday. She is much more to me than just a co-worker. She is a friend and a mentor to me. She is giving and caring and I thought that it wouldn’t be a good birthday if she didn’t get a fabulous surprise cake! Another co-worker and I gathered up some people and surprised her with a special home made cake at work.   

This is my “pinspiration” (inspiration from pinterest). It is from Style Me Pretty.(Click the link to see the original post) I went to Walmart and picked up the $1 Pillsbury vanilla and chocolate cake mixes. I also picked up 2 of the Pillsbury classic white frosting and the biggest tub of sprinkles I could find.

Now I’m going to go ahead and put out there that I am not the best baker in the world at all, so don’t laugh at me. (you can laugh with me though) So this is reality, unabridged unedited. I made a huge mess with sprinkles all over my kitchen. The inside of the cake is marble, oh and uneven. This is the great thing about making homemade treats, they can see the work that you put into it. Take for example the middle layer that is split into thirds and glued back together with frosting, it is being held together by love and hard work (and a prayer). If someone cuts into it and half the cake falls to its death, it only makes the memory that much greater. Spending love and saving money at the same time.

I went to Dollar Tree and got streamers as well as plates, napkins, and forks for our little cake extravaganza. The Dollar Store has a nice little selection of colors for paper supplies. I much prefer going to the Dollar Tree rather than Walmart or Party City for paper party supplies.

 

Overall the “party” was successful. She was fully surprised and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the cake. My marble effect was below par. I basically ended up mixing them together with a few light and dark spots. My mission was completed when she walked in and felt all the love from everyone waiting to yell, “Happy Birthday!” As long as she felt how special she is to me, and many others, everything went as planned!