My Blessed Little Life

Wow!  I made it. Thirty-one days of writing on this little blog.  I am so proud of myself for finishing the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Ruth and Stacey at Two Writing Teachers.  I don't think that I could have imagined that I would finish a month of blogging. A month of writing.  I have truly enjoyed this challenge.  I remember why I love writing.  I have been able to try new styles of writing.  I have also been able to read some really powerful posts from some really terrific writers.  I have learned more about the subject that I teach.  I have come across great ideas for my classroom.  I have laughed and cried with others from around the world.  Thirty-one days may be a short blip in time, but thirty-one days has helped me to become a stronger writer.  Thank you to all the people who have read and commented.  That has meant a great deal to me.  I have grown to love the community of writers who support and e...

  13 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers When my husband and I were first married, we lived with my grandma to help save money.  I was in my last year of college and beginning student teaching, and my husband started a brand new job two weeks before our wedding.  It really made sense to do this.  While we cooked separately most of the time, from time to time grandma would cook for us all.  One of my favorite meals from my grandma was not a fancy one at all.  We always knew that March 17th meant a celebration of our Scots Irish roots. Every March, Grandma would buy corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots at least a week in advance.  She was convinced that if she didn't do this, she would miss out on our St. Patrick's Day meal.  She would study each cut of meat, looking for the piece that had just the right amount of fat.   I always wondered why she went to so much trouble for a meal, but this meal alwa...

  10 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers Ten days of blogging for the Slice of Life challenge have passed.  I have really enjoyed the challenge so far.  It has made me really think about what is happening in my life and how I can put it into words.    I have always loved to write, but have never really considered myself that good at it.  I have so many ideas running in my head, but when I go to actually put those ideas onto paper nothing seems to work.  I write sentences, only to erase them over and over because they don't sound right or they don't really explain the feeling I want them to.  I explain to my students all the time that writing is really about the revision process. That is where the real work takes place, and it is really true.  It is where the frustration lies for me as well.  Self doubt plays the biggest role here, I think. That nagging thought that no one will want to read what I have to...

My baby brother Ben turns 35 today.  He shares his birthday with Dr. Suess, which I've always thought was appropriate, since Ben is the epitome of Oh! The Places You'll Go .  He has always had a very adventurous personality, and has never been afraid to try new things.  My brother and I haven't always gotten along. My mom says it is because we are so much alike...I'm not so sure about that  Our interests have never overlapped that much.  As kids, we spent so much time fighting...about nothing really.  He always had a better relationship with my sister, the middle child and peacemaker.  Now that I'm a mom and have three kids of my own, I see my own kids fighting with each other about nothing too, and have to wonder if they will end up like my brother and I.  He lives in Wyoming and I'm in Missouri, so we don't get to see much of each other at all.  I wish that we were closer in distance, so that we could participate in activities togeth...

I recently had a professional development day for my school district and was able to hear Ruth Ayres speak about teaching writing.  She mentioned her blog, Two Writing Teachers, and a challenge that she sponsors every year called the Slice of Life.   To complete the challenge, the idea is to write every day in the month of March.  I was really intrigued by the idea, and began to think about really doing this.  She also mentioned that they were beginning a classroom challenge this year for the first time.  Could I really write every day for a month?  I've had this blog established for quite a while now and sadly have only posted 20 times...so writing every day is a little lot daunting for me to even consider.  But the more I really thought about it, the more intrigued I became.  I really need to practice what I preach I guess, and I should show my students that I am a writer too.  I can't really expect them to do this and then not follow ...