I read this book for my professional development goal. I was able to connect with a colleague that I met through the blog world, which was quite fitting for our first book.

Ellen and I would read a chapter a week and then emailed each other back and forth about our thoughts, observations, and reflections on that particular chapter.

Nothing about this book was earth shattering, but it did provide some good talking points for us to have some really great discussions.

The chapters were fairly short and very well organized (like an English teacher’s dream).

It was not overly textbookish, and had some great practical examples. She did include data and a lot of history in the book, but again, not in a way that goes over your head or puts you to sleep.

What I enjoyed about the book was looking back at how media and technology has evolved. A lot of advancement happened when Ellen and I were growing up. It gave us some great talking points about our childhood, college, and now our professional lives and how we have interacted with technology over time.

We also had some great discussions about what this means for our students. We have observed a lot of behaviors that stem from the use of technology and the availability of information. That was great to apply it to our work along with our personal tastes.

Throughout the book, the author talked about personal connections and how technology can help and hinder the meaningfulness of those relationships.

We were able to talk about the anonymity that it can provide for criticism on one hand. While on the other, it can provide closeness to long distance relationships. We explored the idea of communities and individuals needing to create an online identity and what that means as far as connections, expectations, and consequences. We discussed such a wide range of outcomes over the couple months of reading, so it is hard to discuss it all here.

All in all, it was a good little book that gave Ellen and I some great things to reflect on. We were able to see how technology has morphed over time and how our usage has impacted us.

It was very interesting for us to talk about this technology driven book through email and having met through blogging and not ever in real life, which we both commented on every once in awhile. We would send each other little technology nuggets from videos to blogs from time to time too that would relate to whatever topic of the time.

Ellen and I are continuing our little book adventure again with a book on decision making. It was really great connecting with her and having the accountability to read a professional development book. I think we had some really great discussions about our profession, but I would also say we got to know each other really well too, even if it was quite random.

Have you read any great professional development books lately?

April 17, 2014 by Stephanie

My Sweet Girl Who Can Act

This weekend, our little lady Grace hurt herself playing in the back yard. We are not sure what happened. One second we were grilling burgers listening to the dogs run around, and then the next second Grace comes limping over like her world just ended.

We think that while she was running around with Crosby, she fell in one of the holes (that she dug) and tweaked something. She didn’t wince when we tried touching her leg, and it obviously doesn’t look broken. She also would stand on it; she just hobbled when she walked.

Since it happened Saturday night, we decided to hold off until Monday to call the vet and see how she got through the rest of the weekend.

Tom carried her practically around the whole apartment Saturday night and all day Sunday. We carefully put her in bed with us and wrapped her all snuggly in blankets and warded off a concerned Crosby so she could rest easily.

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Monday I called the vet to find out you could only schedule appointments 2 weeks out, even for emergencies. What!?!?

How do you all define emergency? That’s another topic for another day.

We ended up deciding to watch her for another couple days and then decide to go to a different vet if it gets worse. Since she wasn’t wincing when we touched it, we honestly weren’t sure what more the vet could do besides charge us money.

As I was panicking on how we would help our baby girl, I started noticing something peculiar about her.

This girl has game.

As I let her out to go wobble to a potty spot, she starts playing with Crosby with no inhibitions.

She is racing around again like the Grace we all know and love.

I watched for a few minutes, then scolded the two of them for playing so rough while Gracie was hurt and ushered them back inside.

And low and behold, the limp was back on.

She would look at Tom and I with crying eyes anytime we went up the stairs. Obviously saying, “Oh dear parents, I am dying. Please carry me.”

Then as soon as her or Crosby got an itch to play, the limp was off. She was back to being an instigator.

Then back to poor me, my leg needs to be amputated.

Yesterday when I came home, I was greeted with “boundy turn into a U shape” Grace like nothing ever happened. Then 5 minutes later…”Mom, hold me. The pain is too much.”

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We have tried to keep her from being too active, but her little doggy instincts obviously want to be normal again. I keep giving her lectures about not taking too much on and the importance of rest. Then I pull her close for a hug and a kiss because I just wanted my baby girl to feel better.

At least that is until last night when I caught her in her lie, and she knew it.

Tom and I were both sitting on the couch, and I saw Grace put all her weight on her “bad” leg to scratch herself with the other. I looked at her squarely in the eyes and said, “Oh so your leg hurts does it?”

Y’all, you should have seen the look she gave me.

She just froze mid scratch, and she knew she had been compromised.

I caught our dog lying to us!

Tom and I were laughing so hard because our dog dooped us.

To be honest, we are still watching her leg and not walking her like normal to keep undo stress away from the leg/shoulder she seems to be favoring. We aren’t horrible parents, and we really do want her to feel better. But seriously, I think she has been faking the “severity” of her injury to get more attention.

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We have been giving her extra love and cuddles, but we are no longer carrying her up the stairs.

If you can wrestle with Crobbers, you can walk the stairs girlie.

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Have you been dooped by your pet? Any advice on how to keep a dog still? Do your dogs have you trained?

April 16, 2014 by Stephanie

Writer’s Block and Some Fast Facts

Lately, I just haven’t fully felt motivated to write or craft. Ok well let’s be honest, I end up asleep on the couch a lot. So while I am being more active with the dogs and trying to keep the house cleaner than it was in January, it has not left me much brain power for the blog.

So in an effort to push away the blockage, I thought I would share some random facts about myself. This may be more than you want to know about me, but oh well.

1. I don’t have a sense of smell. Cue-What you can’t smell? How is that possible? Can you taste? Here try to smell this-insert random object stuck up my nose. I am serious. I do not smell things. I realized this in elementary school when you were blindfolded to see if you could tell the difference between different objects using your senses. And I thought everything was the same when it came to smell. Since there really isn’t anything you can do for smell, I just have kind of let it go. I actually hid it from my parents for a long time (like only within the last couple years told my dad and step-mom) because I was embarrassed. With people I don’t know, I just play along when they say something smells good/bad. But for real folks, I can’t smell. I taste things just fine since all of you were wondering. I will say that I do put a lot more emphasis on texture of foods than I would say most do, but I honestly don’t know how different my taste is to a smelling person because I have never had that capability. Also, it works out pretty nicely with having a husband in the infantry because I can’t smell his rankness or farts. Sorry everyone else.

2. I know how to drive a steam engine train. It has been a few years, so I am probably a little rusty, but I am sure I could pick it right back up. I learned this while working at an amusement park during college. The train was a real one I promise. The fun things you pick up working in a park-like how to win the carnival games (it’s not tricks, but just knowing the system and lots of practice).

One of the real engineers who taught me all about the train. He reminded me so much of my grandpa.

3. Sometimes I am really overcome with emotion. This is an issue at times. Like when I am in line at the store, and there is a sweet little baby in front of me. I have to fight back tears because I am so happy. Seriously, there are real tears in my eyes because of that child. I can cry at grocery store commercials, when I see a dog walking by me, really anything can trigger these emotions without warning. When I feel things, I feel them all out.

4. I took a ballet class when I was 25 years old. I was much more into basketball when I was a kid. I did take tap and gymnastics for a few years, but never ballet. I have always been envious of dancers, and while I don’t claim to have the best rhythm, I knew I wanted to someday take a class. So when I got my first full time job, I did just that. There were only two of us in the class, and it is still one of my favorite adult experiences. It is also some of the best workouts I have ever had. I have tried finding adult classes here to take, but I haven’t had any luck.

5. In my entire life, I have only broken one bone. And it was my butt. Although I have no other bones to compare it to, I am certain breaking your tailbone is the worst. You can’t sit, walk, sleep, or anything without feeling the pain. And going #2, just forget it. If you were not aware, every move of every day is connected to your rear end. It was awful. I broke it when I was playing a pick up game of basketball in grad school. I went to block a lay-up against a guy who was twice my size, however, I do want to say I was successful in stopping him dead in his tracks. It may have been in fear that I was dead from a possible concussion because apparently my head bounced, but that is neither here nor there. It was awful to go to classes or walk around campus for meetings for about a month after. Our classes were for 3 hours at a time, so I had to either stand for the entire time, or I laid on tables in the back of the classroom. I was really classy. And then I moved to carrying around a big rubber butt donut…even classier.

6. When I was 15, my dad let me accompany him on a school trip he sponsored to the British Virgin Islands. Long story shot, my dad was a marine biology teacher at our high school, and he did this trip for anyone who wanted to spend a week learning hands on about marine life. On a sailboat. The summer I went, he had two different sections with a few days in between, so we were there for almost 3 weeks. It was such an awesome experience and one that made me even more of a daddy’s girl.

This is the note that I got as a birthday present from my dad when I was 15. Seriously still the best birthday present ever. (And I saved you from seeing me as a gawky teenager who was living on a boat for 3 weeks…)

7. I played flute in 6th grade, but I hated having to keep my arm held up for so long (ie. lazy). So at the end of the year, when our band director asked if anyone was interested in switching to saxophone, my hand immediately shot up without even thinking about what I was signing up for. It ended up being a really great impulsive thing on my part. I loved playing sax, and it opened up so many doors that never would have happened if I stayed on flute. I am a little bitter at myself though because I still have my flute that my parents bought at my future jazz flutist insistence, but I don’t own my own saxophone. I rented an instrument every year even through college. Silly sixth grader.

8. I have a dream of owning a farm large enough that I can have an elephant sanctuary. I really wanted to train elephants when I was a kid, and it has never really left me. I have read scads of books on elephants and sanctuaries like this so I know how ridiculous of a dream this may seem. But after reading a book like Modoc by Ralph Helfer, I have always wanted to have a relationship like that with an elephant and help save their life (well maybe not everything like Modoc because they did some pretty crazy things together). Anyway, it’s like rescuing dogs on a much heavier scale.

9. I am highly allergic to cats. One time when I was a kid, my friend’s cat scratched me and my hand blew up like a balloon. I have also had a few instances where I almost took myself to the ER because I couldn’t breathe. I break out in hives and my throat closes up. Luckily, I had an amazing doctor in Iowa who found the perfect prescription match-up that I have to take daily in order to survive somewhat normally around cat dander. Unfortunately, one of those prescriptions is not approved for pregnancy, so I am making do with a back up in the mean time.

10. The most random movies will give me nightmares, and pretty much any scary movie or mind game movie naturally. When I was a kid, I cried and had nightmares with the Lion King…I know just plain silly. I still loved it, and wouldn’t know I would get nightmares until I went to sleep. Now it is mostly your typical nightmare inducing flicks, like The Black Swan. Awful. I couldn’t sleep for weeks because of that movie. I would just lay in bed and cry like I was 5 years old (and I was 26…). It also didn’t help that my husband likes to scare the crap out of me and would jump from behind me with a picture of Natalie Portman’s character over his face. True story of torture.

11. I have been told that I have a nice singing voice. However, I cannot sing A Capella or solo and sound good. I need music or someone else to accompany me to actually have a good singing voice. I don’t know why, but I am guessing if I don’t have a guide on the notes, I cannot hear the tone in my own head.

12. I had pneumonia 9 times before I was a one year old. I was one sick baby. And then I was allergic to pretty much everything under the sun. I am so glad I grew out of that! Luckily for me since I spent so many of my formative years eating pretty healthy, it kind of stuck with me as I grew up. Don’t get me wrong, I am a sucker for a box of White Cheddar Cheezits, but I normally I snack on fruits and veggies. I never let my plate go un-happy as a kid. I ate every veggie put in front of me. Except Lima beans, those things are gross (but mostly because of their gritty chalky texture).

13. This number is my favorite number. I have never had a bad Friday the 13th. It was my number in basketball whenever I was allowed to choose. Tom and I become an official couple on a Friday the 13th way back in 2007. So I think it is pretty lucky for me!

April 14, 2014 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #22

I feel like it has been awhile since I have shared Tom’s delightful conversations. So here are just a few nuggets for your Monday morning perusing.

Tom and I always are debating about traveling. We both go back and forth about vacations and trips home and our thoughts and feelings on the matter.

Tom-I hate traveling. There is only one trip I want to take.

Me-The island? (This is a place in the Missouri Ozarks that Tom used to go a lot as a kid.)

Tom-Well yea. And the trip is called the apocalypse. And we are never coming back.

Me-Tom, that is called moving.

Last week, a couple people actually noticed my little baby bump. Naturally, I came home really excited that I am not just arbitrarily not fitting in my pants. And this was my dear sweet husband’s response when I told him.

Tom-Pregnancy is the only time in a woman’s life that they are excited about being fat.

Thanks babe.

Tom was out in the field for most of last week for a pretty large brigade mission (I will be sharing about this next week.) He always comes home grimy and un-bathed from 3 days of wearing the same clothes in the wilderness. It’s like a big man camping trip.

Tom-Sometimes, while out in the field doing army stuff, you begin to feel like a tough guy. Nothing puts that in perspective like walking into a spider web.

Fun fact, I learned this about Tom on our second date at the zoo. I have to say it made me like him more knowing that he wasn’t all tough guy all the time. Also, it was pretty hilarious watching him freak out about a spider web.

My Tough Guy

April 10, 2014 by Stephanie

It’s Not You. It’s Me.

Rejection.

No one likes to be told, “I/We don’t want you.”

It is in our nature as humans to be wanted and needed.

Well this week, I felt another stab of rejection. I received another, “It’s not you, it’s me” kind of thank you for applying but we have found someone else notification.

In my head, though, I hear, “We have found someone better than you.”

After job searching continuously for 2 straight years (3 if you count the brief time that Tom and I were searching in Texas before he joined the Army), you get a little jaded on the job position rejections and having to start over…again

And this one hit a particular nerve knowing it was the last job I was going to go after here in TN.

You start to feel that there may be something wrong with you. You start to doubt your abilities and worth as a professional. You start to wonder if you are heading down the right path. You begin to regret all the energy and time spent preparing cover letters/resumes/detailed interview questions/all job garb. It’s hard not to be frustrated, angry, disappointed, bitter, downtrodden, embarrassed, insert all downer emotions here…

I know I am a good professional, but when I got the news, I felt all the doubt and insignificance seep into my heart. This time though, I didn’t want to feel worthless.

So I let myself have a good wallowing moment and let some ok a lot of tears fall out of disappointment.

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After I let the dogs lick away my tears (which definitely happened), I was determined not to let these “We hired someone who isn’t you” moments define who I am.

(And really how can you be upset anymore after some good snuggles and kisses from these two?)

I pulled out my Bible and started whipping through verses and stories about rejection and starting over.

I read and was reminded about countless “suddenly” moments that God had instigated changing the course of their lives as they knew it.

David was a shepherd boy, but he was suddenly tasked with taking care of Goliath and eventually became king.

Moses was just hanging out in the wilderness for several decades when suddenly a burning bush directed him to lead a nation.

Ruth, Peter, Paul, and more had second chances. They were given new starts to fulfill God’s plan for them.

The one that struck me the most was Genesis 37: 25-28. This is the passage that talks about Joseph (the “dreamcoat” one) and where his brothers abandoned him.

How could Joseph not feel rejection? He was sold into slavery by his OWN family. Talk about huge rejection!

This as we know, however, was all part of God’s plan for Joseph.

As painful as it is, I have to find satisfaction in God and what he has provided for me. I am awarded so much beauty in my life, and I have so much to be thankful for. It’s not about what I can’t have, it should be about what I do have.

I have no idea what God has in store for me. As much as the planner in me hates that, I will eagerly wait for the “suddenly” moment for me to understand what my next step will be. Who knows, maybe here soon I will understand this to be that moment. I have to be open to possibilities. Cliche maybe: as one door closes, another opens. Or find a window or some other exit strategy from my current situation.

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