I Love My Job!

This post is long overdue, but I'll try the best that I can. First off, I LOVE my job! I really do. As much work as it is, it is just SO rewarding and hilarious. My class is just so funny! The principal told me once that if he wants to laugh that day, he can just come into my room. :-)
The first couple months were a little hectic because we (students and I) needed to get into a groove. I also had a wonderful teaching assistant in the morning, but unfortunately she had to leave because she accepted a full-time position at another school. That was a total bummer to me because the next person was going to have big shoes to fill. But I am happy, and lucky, to say that my new assistant (that I've had for about a month now) is fantastic!!
Now we're settling into a better routine and each day is truly an adventure. I never know what these kids are going to say or do, and they just crack me up! I can't imagine not enjoying my job. Everyone needs to find a job that they love - it just makes life so much better. And now, long overdue:

Kinder Quotes & Stories: 

Student: "I know what I'm going to get Santa for Christmas?"
Me: "What?"
Student: "A girlfriend."
Me: "Santa doesn't need a girlfriend, he has a wife - Mrs. Claus! He can't be married and have a girlfriend."
Student: "What?! I've never seen her in my life!"

Student: "My mom won't let me wear pajamas to school tomorrow."
Me: "Why not? We just decided today what we're doing for our reward. Your mom doesn't even know yet."
Student: "Because I'm grounded"
Me: "Why are you grounded?"
Student: "Because I pee the bed." (totally not embarrassed)
Me: "Well, why do you pee the bed?"
Student: "Because I get cold at night."
Me: (What?!?!)???? -- I don't think I responded....
This story is just so weird! Not going to lie, this student is a little strange, too.

Student: "Mrs. Bite-in-gwoober"
Me: "Yes?"
Student: "I wub you."

An ambulance goes by on the street outside our school with the sirens on. A student says, "Someone died." (Again, my reaction is What?!)

This is my #2 favorite story so far: We're just coming back from lunch/recess and I reminded my few students with glasses to remember to put their glasses on, which they keep at their tables on their name tags. One kid goes in the closet and comes out completely serious with huge, 3D theater glasses on!!! I immediately said, "Put those away now." And he looked at me and said, "What? You said we needed to put our glasses on." So again, very calmly I said, "Put those away now." So the student runs back to the closet and starts loud-obnoxious-fake crying (my pet peeve!), so I had to take the glasses away. This entire time though, I was dying laughing on the inside!!! It was hilarious because the glasses were so big on his head and he had a straight face the entire time!!!!

My #1 favorite story happened just this afternoon (and if we're Facebook friends you probably already saw it): We were doing an activity called Heggerty, which is oral phonics. The section's directions were "teacher says a word and the students repeat it. Teacher tells students to take away the beginning blend and say what is left of the word."
Me: "Glass"
Students: "Glass"
Me: "Take away the 'gl'"
Students: "Ass"
*Then there was a very short awkward pause and lots of hilarious, shocked looks on their faces! And one student says, "Ooooooo, Mrs. Veitengruber made us say a cuss word!" And you could just see the lightbulbs going on for the other students.... :) So we all just laughed for a good two minutes about it and then  said, "Bad Heggerty! That's a naughty word to make us say!" It was AWESOME! I felt like we all became a little closer because of that today. :)

I know there are more, but I can't think of them right now. I need to start writing them down... hope you enjoyed... :-)

Random Thoughts

• I haven't blogged in about a week - I feel like I'm due for a post, but there's not too much going on right now. 
• Tim just left with his dad for Tennessee to help his sister and her husband add a bedroom to their house to sell it. They're moving back to this area as soon as they're able to sell their house! Sweet! Tim will probably be gone all week. Bummer.
• We had a nice Thanksgiving with Tim's family and my family. Tim smoked the turkey I won at the Turkey Trot and it was delicious!
• We had the rest of the long weekend at home, which we used to put up our Christmas decorations and begin our Christmas shopping.
• Call me crazy, but I'm already getting excited for Great Strides in 2013. I was looking up sites/dates last night and realized there is one at the same park where I just did my Turkey Trot -- that's about 5 minutes from our house! I'm super excited that there's a local one here that Tim and I (and whoever else wants to join us!) can participate in next year!
• I'm going to try to count my calories again this week. Since Tim's gone, I won't be eating out at all, so it'll be easier to track with everything in the house.
• My goal is to be around 117-120 pounds at my next CF clinic appointment in January - which means I need to gain at least 5 pounds in the next 2 months....easier said than done.
• I'm debating on buying a scale to help monitor my weight. I don't know if that'll make me too obsessed, or if it'll help me. 
• I need to focus on snacking between meals and/or eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day...easier said than done.
• That's about all I can think of...time to go eat. :-)

Turkey Trot 2012 & Out Run CF

This past Saturday, I ran my fourth 5k - the local Turkey Trot! I cannot believe that I have run four 5k races since June! I am so proud of myself for surpassing my goal of running one.
We had excellent weather for our Turkey Trot on Saturday morning. It was very sunny, no wind and probably about 45 degrees by the time the race started -- much better than I thought it was going to be when I first signed up for it. I finished 5th in my age division (18-24) with a time of 32:37 - that's my best time yet! Here are a few pictures from the event:

My kindergarten teacher friend, Natalie, and I.
This was her first 5k and she finished in under 30 minutes!

Gotta show my CF love & support with my
Out Run CF shirt! :)

I also won a turkey! There was a raffle
at the end of the race and I won a 14.4lb turkey!
Sweet!

I'm planning on this being my last run for the year. I'll try to pick back up again in the spring when it's warm enough to start running outside again because I've really enjoyed the past 5-6 months. My focus right now is maintaining my treatment compliance (259 days and counting!), gaining a little weight, and staying healthy this winter. I'm also going to focus on having more blog posts that don't have to do with running! :-)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

St. Louis Glo Run!

All smiles after completing the run! :-)

Last night, my sister-in-law, cousin and I ran in the St. Louis Glo Run 5K! It was so much fun! I loved doing something like this with family, too! There were a couple DJs (one at the start/finish and the other along the course), strobe lights, black lights, glow sticks and awesome neon race shirts. Since it was in the 40s, the DJ played some dance music before the run to get everyone dancing and warmed up - it was a fun, party atmosphere.
This wasn't as 'intense' as a typical 5K because it was not timed, but it was still a good run. The course was marked with glow sticks and was a little dark at times. There were three tents to run through set up along the route which were sweet: a black light tent, a strobe light tent (very weird to run through) and a multicolored light tent.
There was also a costume contest at the end, which we were unaware of, so there were people dressed in all kinds of things like tutus, neon wigs, butterfly wings, etc. We're already planning on making our wardrobe much more interesting for next year's run!
I was expecting more 'fun' along the route, but I can't complain. I didn't train myself very well for this race, but I did pretty well. My sister-in-law and I walked for about 5 minutes together, and we both ran the rest of the way. I finished in about 37 minutes, I think -- I wore my watch and estimated that we didn't start running til about 6:35 and I crossed the finish line around 7:12ish. My legs are killing me today, but I was coughing up so much lovely mucus. When I don't run for a while, I forget how much my lungs benefit from it. I wish I was better about running/exercising more regularly.
The Glo Run did help me realize that I can still run in cold weather. It was probably mid 40s last night and I didn't notice any difference in my breathing because of the cold air. I layered up and actually was sweating by the time I was done despite it being chilly. I'm not as worried about the Turkey Trot that's coming up in two weeks. I'm sure that one will be a bit colder, and if it's hard on my lungs I'll take it easy, but I know that if I layer up, I can keep myself warm.
Last but not least, I try to show some CF love/support when I do my races because it's the reason I'm doing them in first place. Last night, they had neon paint that you could use, so this is what I chose to do: "Cure CF"