“Finish the work, otherwise an unfinished work will finish you.” ― Amit Kalantri "I'll build you a kitchen." These were the first words that came out of Luke's mouth after we looked at our current house in the spring of 2015. We loved everything about the house--the beautiful ceilings, the ranch layout, the location central to our life, and the gorgeous neighborhood. But I HATED the kitchen. It was super modern, laid out badly, and filled with fancy slate tile that did not begin to match me. So, I agreed to buy the house on one condition--that someday I would get my dream kitchen.
When we first moved in, the kitchen was in working order. However, the first Christmas in the house, the dishwasher died. The next Christmas, the double oven died in the middle of cooking my Christmas turkey. Rather than risking a third bad Christmas, we started remodeling the kitchen in the Summer of 2017. It is beautiful--new country cupboards, top of the line appliances, and stunning quartz counters grace the space that I formerly disliked. The feel is cozy and homy. But we never finished. The past 12 months we have spent chasing an electrical problem throughout the walls so we have avoided putting up the backsplash until it is was found. In September, Luke finally realized that the issue was a stove that pulled too much current. He installed a new circuit and the kitchen is ready to rock and roll. So, for thanksgiving break, we took off and installed my backsplash. This ended up being a great team effort--I "wallpapered" the surface with the glue paper and measured all the tiles that needed to be cut. Luke placed the "large" tile sheets and cut all the pieces I measured. By the end of the week, it was beautiful! We still need to finish the trim, but it was a great start.
0 Comments
"Take that one thing you don't like about yourself and more often than not that's the one thing that makes you more special. Whether it's that gap in your teeth, or that mole you never liked, or your skin color."- Shay Mitchell I am a Mole Monster. Thanks to genetics (thanks Jordets) and lots and lots of time in the sun as a child, I am covered with more than my fair share of moles. Over the past few years, I have had several new ones appear, including a massive one on my nose! So, when it was time to make my list, I decided to have them all checked to ensure that there was nothing to worry about. I have had the best of intentions all year to call and get a dermatology appointment, but somehow, in the hustle and bustle of life, it never seemed to happen. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I found a new mole on my rear and had the hubby check it out. He said he thought it was fine, but maybe I should go get checked by the dermatologist. So, I did it--I set an appointment. Today was my visit and I am happy to report that everything checked out fine. He did use frozen nitrogen to freeze off a skin tag in my arm pit, but otherwise, no big deal. I did learn that this is what you should be concerned about if you too have moles: At this point I have none of these signs! Woo hoo!
"There's just something beautiful about walking in snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you're special."-Carol Rifka Brunt Reading through my list yesterday, I saw this item on the list and wondered, "What was I thinking?" I'm not really sure why this item was on my list but I figured since it was there it was worth doing. The whole idea of my life list was to get out of the rut of doing the same things over and over again. So, this morning when we woke to snow, I walked in it barefoot. Exhilarating , painful, and just plain silly, I am not sure what I was thinking. But I got out of a rut, tried something new, and realized that I will NEVER join in the Polar Bear Plunge.
“The more we love the more we lose. The more we lose the more we learn. The more we learn the more we love. It comes full circle. Life is the school, love is the lesson. We cannot lose.” ― Kate McGahan Just over a year ago, I started this adventure with wanting to make my bed every day for a week. (See post here). Today, I FINALLY achieved my very first life list adventure as my husband started making the bed while I was still in it so I jumped out to finish it. Amazingly, as I go to add it to my list, it is the 40th adventure I have finished, thus completing my "40 before 40." This adventure has been a fun ride and has reminded me of the power of dreams, goals, and living each day with purpose and passion. It has helped to fill up my soul and work on finding a better work/life balance. When I originally started this project, I figured I would finish and be done after my forty, but instead, I have SO MANY more adventures that I want to go on that I am just going to keep on going. After just over a year, here are some new items I want to add to my list: Finish 100 items on my life list. Figure out how to turn my life list blog into a blog that people actually follow. Apply for the Colorado Teacher of the Year Program. Volunteer for Santa's Little Hackers Become a policy adviser for education in Colorado Write a letter to my newly elected politicians to advocate for more funding for public education Go on a 40th birthday trip with friends See a show at the Grand Old Oprey Try a new type of meat Give Inidan food another try Try Ethiopian Food I have also decided to take two different items off the list. First, my summer reading adventure--I loved the idea of it and got through some good books. However, I am realizing, that I don't want to be bound to reading certain books. Instead, I just want to READ! I also took walk 500 miles in a year off the list. Keeping track of it quickly became a pain in my butt--I know I am walking a lot more this year and I don't care to figure out how far right now. There is only so much band width and this isn't the bandwidth I want to use now. “If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.”-Coco Chanel ![]() Flying anything is fun--right? From a perfectly folded paper plane to stepping on to a commercial jet, there is something special about being able to soar. As a small girl, this joy took flight every time I checked out that same tired library book about Amelia Earhart from the local library. Fast forward to making my list, and the joy came back to life. Drones have been getting a lot of attention in educational circles for their potential to engage the next generation of STEM professionals. So, for my PBL this fall, I decided to dive in and learn all about drones and bring them to my students! In early September, I took a planning day at Mindspark education with their drone team and got to learn how to fly both the Tello drone and the Mavick. My heart nearly sprang out of my chest as I learned to control these little guys with a simple cell phones and I got to explore the area around the building. I was as giddy as a school girl when I took the Mavick Pro 300 feet above Lakewood and survived both the city and the front range from a birds eye view! Freedom and joy! In October, we were able to bring these same experiences to my students on "drone day". Students were able to fly challenges, learn to code programs for the drones to do and see the difference between small scale drones and the Pro. It was fun to see their eyes light up with the same joy I had felt! Part of my list was able to be shared! It was amazing! “Innovation is hard because solving problems people didn’t know they had and building something no one needs look identical at first.”-Aaron Levie Uber has been a "thing" for a while now, but I didn't get what the fuss was all about. Living in Colorado all my life, public transportation is a "non" issue for me so I didn't get why I would pay for someone to drive me when I could just drive myself. So, when I was creating a list of experiences that would get me outside of my comfort zone, I added riding an Uber to the list.
Well, this weekend, an opportunity appeared to try it out. I had "#IMOMSOHARD" tickets with my friends. None of us wanted to drive because we all wanted to be able to enjoy a few drinks with dinner and the show. So, Uber it was. And you know what? It was great. Instead of fighting to find parking in a super busy down town, we just got to get out of the car and walk into dinner. Instead of worrying about who had to stop drinking once we got to the show, we raised our glasses to good times and enjoyed a drink all together. And after the show, there was no fighting the long line of traffic out of town. Uber really did fix a problem I didn't know I had. I can't wait until my next date night with Luke--we can both enjoy each other instead of worrying about getting there and back! "It resonated with me because of what my troop leader had taught me: You can create your own opportunities, you can set your goals, you can break down what you need to accomplish ... and then just achieve them,"-Sylvia Acevedo For years, I have always gone "Awwwww...." when seeing book signings advertised or featured in pop culture. The idea of having a moment to speak to an author who has put their heart into writing a book speaks to my heart as a teacher and a creator. So, when it was time to make my list, I added this as one of my items.
Fast forward to July when a Facebook Friend posted that the Tattered Cover had an author visit program that was free to schools. She posted that Sylvia Acevedo would be coming to Denver to promote her book "Path the the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist." This made a light bulb go off in my head--we needed to bring a book signing to our school. I texted my principal to ask permission and got the event set up. Well, today we had our visit and it was such a fun day. Sylvia Acevedo grew up a first generation American who loved math and Girl Scouts. She learned valuable lessons about creating opportunities through the scouts and shared that learning with our students today. It was exciting to see my students realize that they had similarities with this inspiring woman. After her whole group talk, students who had repurchased the book were able to spend time one on one with the author. She took time to ask each and every student what they had related to in her talk. This then turned into her inscription in their book. My son Jaxon was the only boy to buy a book, so I thought he might feel out of place. But instead, he embraced the moment and shared how much he too liked math. It was a proud mama moment. I can't wait to go to another book signing. My friend Aimee invited me to go see Anne Lamott in a few weeks and I am excited to hear her wisdom in person. I may have found a new hobby! "Anyone who stops learning is old whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." -Henry Ford I love to learn--this is a key part of my identity. A whole part of my starting my life list was that I wanted to have a "stockpile" of things to keep me learning. This fall, I am starting some really specific learning--how to be a great engineering teacher. I have been looking at "STEM" programs over the past few years to fill in my skill set, but most have focused on Math or Science. At the end of last summer, however, I caught wind of one that might help me out while attending a training. Tufts University has a Teacher Engineering Education Program that provides direct instruction in both engineering pedagogy and content. A perfect solution!
This semester I am taking an Engineering for Secondary Teachers Class and I'm so, so excited. So far I have learned to program the data logger on a LEGO Mindstorm EV3, tested how different shopping bags fail, and learned that my coffee stays hot on my desk for about 70 minutes. I am excited to see where this learning adventure takes me! "Enjoy the little things in life, because someday you will realize they were the big things." -Unknown Taking a girls trip is something I have wanted to do for a while, but with so many mom friends it is super hard to get one set up. So, when my friend Kirsten decided to have a weekend away for her bachelorette party I leaped at the opportunity. This weekend I spent 3 days in Estes Park with Kirsten and her people and it was AMAZING!
I enjoyed the camaraderie of spending time with girls. We ate, played games, enjoyed nature and a few cold beers. Prior to the weekend I had met a couple of the girls going, but I didn't actually know any well. I really enjoyed meeting people who were new--I don't often do this but this group of ladies were so kind, fun, thoughtful, and inspiring in how they interact with the world. It was lovely. One part of the weekend that particularly was fun for me was going on a hike that required some climbing. Now, I wish I could say that I am athletic or in shape, but that is not currently a reality. So, when the girls said they wanted to do the Lily Lake Ridge, I was worried. Could I do it? Could I keep up? Would I embarrass myself? I didn't know and I want to hide. But, then I remembered, that I can do anything I try if I give myself permission to be imperfect. So up the hill we went and it was AWESOME! The view of the lake was spectacular but it paled to the sense of accomplishment I had at finishing something I did not think I could do. During the trip, two other items on my list magically manifested themselves. First, the house we rented had a HUGE yard with chairs out by the River. We spent both evening sitting out under the stars. Being so far from the city turned into a great opportunity to enjoy the Milky Way in its full glory. A couple of years ago I started doing a light pollution PBL with my students to look at how to improve our view of the night sky. This weekend I was reminded of why this matters so much. It was stunning, it reminded me of just how small I am in the scope of the universe, and just how beautiful God's creation truly is. During the first night of the trip, we were lucky enough to see the Perseus-Aurigid complex shower. We saw 15 or 20 shooting stars and it was so fun! I loved it! It took me back to my childhood when looking up at the sky was one of my favorite pastimes. It fed my soul and my heart! (PS--this picture is NOT mine!) "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."-Friedrich Nietzsche Living in Colorado, you see 26.2 and 13.1 stickers everywhere. It seems like EVERYONE has done a marathon or a half. But to me, the "I wish I was athletic, but I actually HATE working out" girl, it seems like a daunting task. So, I decided that this week as I started on my Colorado Trail journey, I would try to knock off my goal of walking a marathon in a week and kill too birds with 2 stones. And how was it? Not bad. My new classroom is HUGE and the distance between it and the bathroom/office/lounge has allowed me to easily hit this goal.
Now to try to walk a 5K in a reasonable time so that I can sign up for that item on my list! |
AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
May 2020
Categories
All
|