My rock

I know that just about every married person believes their spouse is the best but really y'all, my husband is so wonderful. Let me start with something small. I decided to put a movie on the tv for background noise while I did some paperwork at home. My husband was in a nearby room but didn't see me make my selection. No joke, not even ten seconds into the movie he asks, "Are you watching Mulan?" That's right, he can identify Mulan from just the first few seconds of music. 💜

Next up is his giving heart. My husband's parents were in town during Thanksgiving and he really wanted to do everything for them. He insisted that we all go out to the nicest restaurant in town (our city isn't huge so don't think of anything Michelin star rated!) and spoil everyone on his dime.

Look at him! How can you not love that smile?!

Finally, it's how he treats me when I'm sick. I've had a cough for a few days but yesterday I was seriously ill. I spent hours that morning on the couch, crying and groaning from the pain. He let me choose what to watch on tv, took care of our pets, and kept asking what he could do to make me more comfortable. (Of course, me being me, I kept telling him I would be just fine and not to worry) Well, I finally, uh, lost my breakfast . . . and lunch. While I was hunched over the toilet making the world's most disgusting noises, he stayed by my side and offered me the only thing I ever want when I'm like that: a cool, damp washcloth to wipe my face. He then helped me to bed, brought me a cup of water, and insisted that I nap for a few hours. He knew exactly what I needed. I later thanked him and pointed out that he really did not have to stay in the bathroom while all that went down but he replied that he wanted to make sure that he was quite literally right there by my side for whatever I needed.

I thank God for leading me to Matthew and for his love and kindness toward me everyday. We've been married for four years, together for eight, and I look forward to decades with him. He is my rock and I cannot imagine my life without him right there by my side through thick and thin.

-Clare G. S.

Fat B*tch

Today was an interesting day for one reason: a student called me a fat bitch. Yup, you read that correctly. I'm a fat bitch. You know what? If that had happened 5 years ago, I probably would have cried. Today? Today I'm going to embrace it.

Let me tell you how this came up. The grading period just ended. This student did not pass. She asked about her grade and I pointed out what caused her to not pass. She was not pleased with my response. When I walked away, she said "fat bitch". It's as simple as that.

I'm ok with it. Yes, I'm fat but I love these curves. Yes, I won't pass a student who hasn't earned that grade so I guess I'm a bitch.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I think I've finally grown a thick enough skin that I just don't care. Or maybe I recognize that I have enough on my plate so worrying about what a teenager thinks about me is not a priority at all. Hate me. Love me. My job is to teach you math. You aren't going to learn if I just pass you along and pray that your next math teacher is able to reach you.

So to all my fellow teachers out there, keep on teaching and keep on being bitches.

-Clare G. S.

Chucks Make Me Happy

Warning: there's a little bit of bad language in this post.

Let's be honest, teaching freshmen is no joke. I'm tired of their BS. You know, acting like they had no idea that they can't eat in the classroom or use their phones. I'm tired of telling them to stop talking over me and then them arguing that they weren't talking. So to combat that, I have to do stuff that just makes me really stupidly happy.

This means that I spent a large part of my 3-day weekend watching Bleach (I restarted from the first episode and I love it just as much as I did in high school!), playing PokemonGo, and spending some money on frivolous things. I have to live furiously happy when I can! My small frivolous purchase was a bunch of nail wraps. No one should be surprised that I chose a purple sparkly set and a Día de los Muertos set. (If you want to check them out, click here) My bigger frivolous purchase must have been designed just for me. They are just way too perfect. So first, a bit of back story.

If you knew me in high school or early college, you probably saw me wearing Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars (aka Chucks). My first pair were red high-tops and I wore them to the point that I was fixing them with duct tape. With the help of my multi-lengual TAMS friends, I wrote "I love you" in about a dozen language on their sides. I then decided on green high-tops to help me every St. Paddy's day. My last pair were gray low-tops. I can't tell you anything about any other shoes I have worn (except my first pair of cowboy boots) because none of them were special . . . except the Chucks.

I think my love of Chucks started with my sister, Monica. Being the stereotypical little sister, I had a tendency to like what my older siblings liked. I feel like Monica was always wearing Chucks so, of course, little kid Clare wanted Chucks as well. (My love of the color purple probably started with the fact that Monica's room was purple) I ended up liking them for the style and being able to easily find my size. No one wants to carry women's size 10.5 but men's size 8 is easy!

Fast forward to a about a week ago. I found out that Journey's had a special pair of Chucks. I needed them. On Sunday, I ordered them. Today, they arrived. I'M FUCKING ECSTATIC WITH THESE SHOES!

THEY ARE PURPLE AND THEY SPARKLE AND I AM SO STUPIDLY HAPPY WITH THESE DAMN SHOES. I WANT TO WEAR THEM EVERY DAMN DAY.

No joke, it put a smile on my face when I first put them on. Every single one of my students and co-workers can laugh at me for wearing these shoes and I will not care. This little thing makes me happy and that's what counts. So remember, every now and then do something that makes you stupidly happy. If possible, then find someone who shares your excitement about it. (Hi, Jo and Monica!)

-Clare G. S.

Just a Check In

Wow! How has it been 2 weeks since I last posted?! I guess life gets busy. Looking at my parent contact log, I've called/emailed/texted over 75 times to parents of my students. That's in just over a month. Yeah, that will definitely take up time. In fact, I've noticed that I spend 30 - 90 minutes each school night making sure I've done all of my parent contacts for disruptive students or students who are not following directions/school rules. It eats my time but it's required by the district. Luckily some of the parents have told me that they prefer text messages or emails so that saves time and allows me to send those messages later than I would call someone.

I've also been working on my flipped classroom. In a nutshell, I record the lesson for the day on a video and put it on a website called EdPuzzle. The students then watch the video, write the notes, and answer questions about it during class. I love it because it means students can always rewatch a video if they don't understand a concept and they can pause and ask questions without feeling like they are stopping the whole class. If they miss a day they aren't just copying a friend's notes; they are getting the same lesson that everyone else got. It's pretty sweet. It also frees me up to help students individually more often.

Outside of school I feel like my social life has blown up! Recently I spent a Friday night hanging out with some of my math department friends. We got a little bit of work done and spent a lot of time chatting and having a few drinks. It was really nice. I've also spent more time with friends just playing card games or board games. I actually planned my time really well this past weekend and got to go to a friend's kid's birthday party on Saturday afternoon, play cards with friends on Saturday night, and then spend Sunday at Wizard World  (it's a convention) in Austin. I went to bed just before midnight on Sunday so I think that was pretty good timing!

I really need to finish up some schoolwork before bed so I'm going to cut this short. Let's end with a photo, shall we? Here's my big purchase from yesterday's Wizard World:

It's a wand! It's purple and sparkly and it's so perfect. :D I now know exactly what I'll dress up as for Halloween. I hope you all are having a magical week!

-Clare G. S.

P.S. - I forgot something important! Today was the first Anime Club meeting with me (and my husband) as the advisor. The previous teacher is having some health issues and cannot teach right now. Her students told her that I like anime and here I am! I'm excited to get to know these kiddos. <3

Let's Talk Cake!

It was another rough day. Well, really the day was going alright until my last class period. There are about four students in there who do not know how to stop talking/singing/dancing/banging on their desks/etc. I've done all of my documentation for that and I've called a few parents. Hopefully they will decide to change their behavior before it causes them to fail my class and fail the state test. I will no longer be supplying glue sticks to that class because someone threw their glue stick onto the ceiling and someone glued another student's paper to his desk. Yup. These are 15 year olds. I "self-medicated" with a Five Guys burger and fries and a large piece of homemade carrot cake. Let me tell you about that cake.

As I mentioned in the last post, I baked my husband's birthday cake. He loves carrot cake so that's what he got. It is a bit odd to put fondant on carrot cake but I did it. The carrot cake sponge was a new recipe and it is awesome! The buttercream frosting was also new and just as great! I didn't make my own fondant but rather ordered some Wilton pre-made fondant. As far as fondant goes, it was pretty good. I didn't like it paired with the carrot cake but I think it would be pretty good with a different sponge. Do you want to see a photo? Of course you do!

I even made a little Erlenmeyer flask since Matthew teaches Chemistry

I'm so happy with how it came out! I WAAAAAAAAY overestimated how much fondant I would need but that's better than underestimating. I have carefully wrapped-up the unused fondant so it should be good for another cake. I'm going to be a bit obnoxious and show you a video of the cake. Again, I'm really proud of that fondant. There is one sizable place where I have wrinkles but I think that's pretty fantastic for my first time!

(Please excuse the background conversation; I was obsessing over my cake while my husband was talking to his sister and her husband.)

The BCCC party on Sunday was really fun but I didn't think to take any photos. I do have a photo of the caricature that we had made during the party.

I think Matthew is pretty darn good. I feel like mine looks a bit like my sister, Phyllis, when she was a teenager. Monday we got to play cards with our friends, Jo and Liz. That was a great way to start the day. We then spent the rest of the day working on school stuff. :(

As my mom would say, life keeps chugging along. If I remember to really stick to my discipline routine I think I can greatly help my classes. It will also be nice to go back to a flipped classroom but I need to wait until next week when all of the students should have their Chromebook. I'm sure many of you don't know what a flipped classroom is so I'll try to remember to write about it sometime soon. Tonight, I need to take a breather. My goal for the school year was to take care of myself and I think that means a long shower and a tasty drink for now. :D

-Clare G. S.