First Post of the Year and It's Not Even a Cool One.

Well dang. It's taken me another whole month to write a post. I'm full of good intentions. I'm also full of excuses. Sorry guys. I've spent the past month doing what all of you have been doing, just enjoying some holiday cheer. I had such a great Christmas. I want to actually write a post on some Christmas happenings because I have a good Granny story to share. We'll have to see how the story goes when I type it out. It's one of those things that the humor may not transfer through writing. I'll try my best.

And as far as New Year's...it's my least favorite of holidays. Too much hype. It's dumb. I don't usually do resolutions, but I made some personal goals for myself this year. Maybe if I share some, it will help to keep me a little more accountable. These are a few I am willing to share:

Blog more often. I know, I know. I say this every month when I do my one post. We'll see how it goes.  I might actually do a better job of blogging this semester because I've decided to not take a class this spring semester. Fall semester wore me out and work has been super busy and stressful this year, so I need a little break from something. Plus I'm getting my first ever student teacher in March. I want to do a good job for her and be a good model. I feel like if I'm stretched too thin, that won't happen.

Socially, I want to "put myself out there" more. Whatever the heck that means. But everybody tells me this is what I need to do. So...I'm going to try hard this year to find out what that means and do it. I'm going to try to break out of my comfort zone a little bit. Stop being such a hermit crab (which is hard because I love just being at home by myself). Get to know some new people. Build relationships with new co-workers. Try new things. Go on a stinkin' date! Work harder at maintaining relationships and friendships that I already have. This next month I'm participating in a new book club and I've been invited to join a Bunco group. This makes me sound like I'm 63, but I'm trying to branch out a little bit. Basically, I need to find a balance. I need to make more time for others, even during my busiest weeks.

It's so cliche, which is why I hate this one, but I'm making myself do the healthy thing. I'm not hardcore working out. I will never be all about that. But I do want my flat stomach back. I miss it. I'd also like to get rid of a couple of my chins and just get back to having one. That would be cool.
I suggested to a few teachers that we start a little walking club after school. Calling it a club just makes it sound more legit. Maybe I'll look into getting t-shirts made for us. We're starting this week and will be taking advantage of our humongous school and the many stairways it has to offer. I see it as more time to talk and gossip, so I'm good with it. Walking after school will be a more realistic way to "work out" because it doesn't involve driving anywhere. I lose all kinds of motivation if I have to physically go somewhere to do exercise.
I'm also going to try to eat better. I eat crap. Just crap. And drink too much Coke. I'm going to try to cut back. I'm not happy about it because I love my junky food and Cokes, but I can feel myself getting bigger and nastier and I don't like it anymore, so I need to straighten up.

Professionally, well, I always want to be a better teacher for my students. The demands are never-ending. I also really do hope to find some time this semester to create more items for my own classroom and to post on Teachers Pay Teachers. I have several items that are in-the-works. I just need to wrap them up. I also really feel like I need a separate teacher blog. This blog originally started as a personal blog. It has evolved during the past couple years to include more stories about school and my life as a teacher because I feel like a huge part of my reading audience are teachers, (which I love, so I'm not saying to go away!) but I would also like to have a separate blog to only post about things I've made for TPT and ideas from my classroom, so I don't wear my non-teacher readers out. That sentence was way too long and not structured well. Don't judge me. It's 1 in the a.m. and I'm not about the mechanics right now.

And mainly, I just want 2013 to be a year that the excuses stop. More action. Less talk. That's going to be my new focus.