Welcome! Hi, I'm Cammy and this is my blog. I am a 20-something teacher, photographer and lover of food, who lives for her kittens, and loves to dance. I take life as it comes and I'm slowly making it through my quarterlife crisis. Welcome to my life!
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This is post is a conglomerate of things and some are happy and some are sad and some are just whatevs.
Stick by me pretty please.
The week has gone okay since finding out about all my sick family members on Wednesday. My dad is better and successfully recovering and my cousin went home yesterday and her mom is with her recovering in Tampa.
My grandmother, on the other hand, has had to have several more blood transfusions and is suffering from very low potassium and blood pressure. She was supposed to be moved to the recovery center yesterday, but they kept her in the surgical care unit since she wasn’t doing well. Hopefully, she will be moved to the recovery center tomorrow morning and I am waiting to hear where she will be before leaving to go see her. My plan as of now is to leave early tomorrow morning. No matter when she moves, she will be facing at least a month long stay in the recovery center. I’ll keep you posted.
My plan of revamping my life has been going well. My family getting sick threw an emotional wrench into things, but for once, things are actually going well in the love department.
A 29-year old guy, who is super cute, has been messaging with me (on Match.com) back and forth for three days now. He writes me real e-mails, with paragraphs, and proper grammar (unlike most of the men who have e-mailed me in text speak). He asks genuine questions and responds to what I say. Such a turn on!
He works in international communication and marketing and is about to graduate with his master’s degree from the same place I got my master’s. He lives on his own (++!) and loves sushi (+++!).
You know I love pictures, so here he is:
From now on, he shall be known on the blog as Sunny Isles (Named for where he lives and his sunny personality).
He asked for my number today, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m not keeping my hopes up since my heart has been broken so recently, but it will be fun to hopefully meet someone new that I have so much in common with. Our families actually live like 15 mins away from each other!
I’ve been working out and trying to eat better this week. There have been some wrenches in the daily workout plans, but I am doing the best that I can, which is all I can ask for.
Work was pretty easy this week since my students had to take the district writing and reading pre-tests. The real teaching will probably not even start for another week since there is no school this coming Monday and Thursday is a teacher work day. A three day week will be awesome!
Alright loves, I am off to continue dosing between indulging in good bad TV (Bring it On: All or Nothing is on E!).
Have you ever tried online dating? How did it go for you?
UPDATE: Sunny Isles called me!!! We have plans to talk more tomorrow night and then a date planned for next week. Ahhh! Trying not to be excited but I am. 
At 6:45AM I got I text from my mom today that said to call her. My mom does this thing where she texts me to call her, I have no idea why.
Anyway, when I called her, I got some news, well actually lots of news that shocked me.
My grandmother had double knee replacement surgery yesterday and apparently it didn’t go well. She had to have a blood transfusion and is now hooked up to like 30 tubes and in major pain. She slips in and out and my mom has been sleeping at the hospital alone watching over her. It looks like she will be okay, but I cannot imagine how she must feel.
My mom’s sister was at the hospital with her, when she got a call from her daughter (my cousin) that she had abdominal pain. My cousin is away at college in Tampa and went to her school’s health center where they then rushed her to the ER to have an emergency appendectomy. My aunt left my mom, grabbed her husband, and drove the 6 hours to Tampa to be with her, but my cousin is 19 and very scared.
My dad has had what we thought was a sty in his eye for the past several months. Well apparently it was some sort of tumor/growth/pimple thing that burst this morning and had to be surgically removed.
So yeah, I have three family members, whom I love dearly, in the hospital for surgery at the same time. My dad and cousin are now out of surgery and recovering, but I am still waiting to hear on how my grandmother has been today. She will need to probably spend a month or so in the hospital recovery center according to the doctors. My mom said it is heartbreaking to see her so frail and scared.
I will be going home Friday to spend the long weekend with all of them, but please pray for them in the meantime if you are a believer.
I’ve decided to make some changes in my life as this new year starts. For most people, resolutions come with the new calendar year, but for me, as a teacher, December has always felt like the middle of the year- a time when I am tired and downtrodden. September, on the other hand, seems to be the start of something new. A perfect time of year to make some well needed changes in my mixed up life. So here, categorized by area, are the changes I am making beginning today.
Body
I used to work out 4-5 days a week. On April 16, 2010, I blogged about my weight loss journey and about my plan to loose the 15 pounds I had gained by July 1, 2010. Well, it is now August 31, 2010 and I sit before you fatter than ever (Fat for me. I realize that everyone has different standards, but I don’t feel healthy). I have not lost the 15 pounds. In fact, I am the heaviest I have been in years. Something needs to be done.
So, my new plan is this: I will work out every single day in September.
That might sound crazy to you, but as my friend Emily always says, “Once you take one day off, it is too easy to take another.” I don’t plan to continue this craziness for forever, but working out for 30 days straight and seeing the results that I know will come from that may just be the push I need to make working out a part of my daily life once again. Plus, I plan on getting SCUBA certified in October and I’ll be damned if I am going to be in a class of people in a bathing suit looking like this.
My goal is this: to fit into these jeans (My faves. They are a size 4 in Gap. The 8’s I am wearing now are tight.),
and work out 3-4 times a week regularly as part of a healthy life. If I do this, I should weight about 135 pounds, which is what I weighed when I lost the weight before.
I also plan to get more sleep as I now average about 5 hours per night on weeknights. It has been proven that people who are sleep deprived weigh more, plus it is bad for every part of your body and mind to be behind on sleep.
Soul
A couple of weekends ago, I surprised my family by showing up at their church (an hour away) to join them for Sunday mass. It was so much fun and I loved spending time with them. My new goal is to visit my family 1-2 weekends a month. I cannot keep going months without seeing them. It makes me crazy and they miss me just as much as I miss them. I also plan to start going to church more because it just makes me feel so good. Even when I can’t go with my family, there is actually a local church here that I love. I am not committing to going every single Sunday- I have never truly believed that you have to go to church every Sunday to have a relationship with God- but I do plan to go more and to pray more on my own.
I also took the plunge and joined Match.com. So far it has been 3 days and nothing has really come of it, but I bought a month subscription so I am giving it 30 full days. The decision came after attending happy hour on Friday with a fellow teacher named Liddy. She and her roommate joined for a month and she actually ended up dating a guy from Match for awhile. She put it to me this way, “Give it 30 days. If nothing comes of it, then you’ve only lost $30 bucks, but something amazing could happen.” So I did it. The guys on there seem to be a mixed breed of “Hell No” and “Too Hot”, but I am giving it time.
Mind
There isn’t much that I can specifically change about my mind. I do plan to stop stressing so much and to let things be more. I don’t think I need to start seeing the therapist again, but I do think that I need to work on being more at peace. I think most of the “mind” changes will come from the changes I am making to my body and soul. Once those things are in order, I think my mind will be a lot more at peace.
I do specifically want to work on being more effective at work. Mostly in the areas of grading things quickly and efficiently and making the classes I teach as challenging as possible. It is hard this year with 7 classes and 5 different preps, but I think that now that grad school is over (Oh yeah, somehow I forgot to mention that I am done with my master’s degree, but yeah, I am finished. I am still waiting on my degree to confer so I will let y’all know when it is official) I will actually be able to devote the time necessary to my work.
So that’s my plan. I think it is do-able and necessary. I need to get out of this rut and hopefully this plan will allow me to do that. I am turning 25 in just two short months and I want to be healthy and happy as I venture into my late-twenties (yikes!)
Do you ever feel like your life just needs a change? Have you ever made a plan to overhaul your life? How did it go?
Most of you who read my blog know that I own my home. Yes, little ‘ol me owns her 2 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse. People always assume that because I own my house I must be uber responsible and amazing with money.
Well the truth is that yes, I am responsible, but I am terrible with money and the two don’t really mix with home ownership. Neither does being a single 20-something.
You see, when I first decided I was going to buy a house with the money my grandmother gave me for a down payment, I was 21. I has just graduated college and was living in a miserable house with 3 roommates that I hated (it’s a long story for another time).
I was sick of moving, had landed my dream job, and thought that settling down was great. Even though EE and I had ended our four year relationship, I still had the “I’m going to settle down and get married” mentality. It didn’t occur to me that when he left my life, my outlook would start to change.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my house. In so many ways I am that homemaker. I love decorating and getting new little things for the house. I love that it’s mine and I can do whatever I want to it. And most importantly to someone who moved 14 times before the age of 17, I don’t have to MOVE!
But, there are things about owning a home as a 24-year old that aren’t so grand. Like the fact that not only are you responsible for fixing the things that break, but you probably don’t even have money or know how to do so. For the record, it’s my garbage disposal this time. I don’t even know who to call to fix it.
You also have to explain to men you meet that, no, you aren’t some super independent power hungry man-eater, you just had a good opportunity and took it.
You have to watch, everyday, as the value of your beloved house falls in this ever shitty market.
You are stuck. You cannot move. You cannot decide one day that you are sick of Miami, it’s men, and it’s drama. You have responsibility. And if you do want to leave, you have to be damn sure that you find amazing tenants to rent out your beloved house and then convince people to go and check up on the house periodically to make sure it’s okay.
Oh, and you have a mortgage. This giant payment that you have to pay every month. That could be so much freakin’ lower if you had waited two years to buy the house, but then the banks probably wouldn’t have approved you anyway since now their funds are being held tighter than jeggings and no one gets a loan.
*sigh* I struggle with these things sometimes. I love and hate being a homeowner in the same way that I love and hate being single. There are the good days and the bad days and everything in between.
Do you own your home? Are there days you regret your decision?
PS. You can win some jeans today. Click here.
The first week is finally over! I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my whole life. It’s like a disease. I plan on passing out as soon as I finish this post. My head is pounding, my eyes are getting blurry…. oh wait, that could be from the three martinis I had at happy hour, but really, who’s counting?
 (image: http://fallingsky.blogs.com)
Random funny news, HCB (Hot Club Boy) has been texting me =) Maybe Orlando needs to happen sooner rather than later…
Anyway, here are my reflections/ ramblings on the first week back:
- Parents need to stop trying to be “creative” with their baby names. Some of them are just dumb. Like “Usnavy”? after the U.S. Navy. I mean really? Come on. Also, creative spellings are silly. If you are going to give your kid a common name, spelling it weird doesn’t make it any cooler people. “Ameeh”, pronounced “Amy”? Enough said.
- I either need a bigger classroom or less students. Most of my classes are sitting at 32 kids and I only have 30 desks. No more desks can be placed in my room as I have computers in the back and the room is seriously crowded with the 30 desks as it is. It’s probably going to be several weeks before the classes are leveled. *sigh*
- Can an intravenous caffeine drip please be invented?
- Home room paper work is SO annoying.
- Five (5) different preps is just not cool.
- The school day starting earlier is killing me. You wouldn’t think that 10 minutes makes a difference, but it DOES.
- Who’s idea was it to cut the lunch shorter this year by 5 minutes at my school? Can I please be granted permission to bi**h slap that person? As if teachers don’t need those 5 minutes to pee. Sheesh!
- Why don’t high schools have nap time? It wouldn’t have to be long. Just a 30 minute power nap after lunch would be perrrrfect.
What’s bothering you today?
Night!
So apparently I forgot to mention in both posts about him, that Hot Club Boy lives in Orlando, four hours away =( He was in Miami visiting his cousin when I met him, but apparently he comes to Miami pretty often so there is always potential to see him again. Plus, I have trips to Orlando planned for September and November this year so who knows? We could have a visit with Hot Club Boy soon =).
I am so tired. Tired is an understatement but there isn’t a word for what I am feeling. I don’t ever remember feeling this bad at the beginning at the year before. I swear, when I woke up this morning I really thought I wasn’t going to make it. My head was pounding and my eyes were blurry… I couldn’t move. It was like being hung over but worse because I wasn’t.
I got the biggest coffee ever from Starbucks this morning and dragged myself to work. Let’s just say it was rough day. I passed out as soon as I got home and just woke up to blog. I’m sad because I wanted to begin my hard core workouts this week and it just isn’t happening. I guess I will have to start next week.
This made me laugh today:
As did this awesome video that a friend from HS posted on FB. Amazing!
Really? WTF does she think she’s doing? What is TV and music coming to?
Do you take naps? Do they help you or do they make you more tired?
Today was hard, like yesterday, and my feet are killing me. It’s amazing what a contrast happens from summer to the new school year, you need like a month to adjust! I can barely stand up straight because my back hurts so much and I keep passing out as soon as I get home. Alas, the life of a teacher.
Anyway, this is what I wore for my second first day:
I was much more comfortable in this outfit versus yesterday’s since the jacket I wore yesterday made me really hot and sweaty.
Like I mentioned, I met my second set of kids today since we are a school on block scheduling. I am not too sure about the kids I had today. I don’t think I like them as much as my ODD day kids. We’ll just have to see though. They seem to be a little less motivated, especially the 9th honors. When I asked who had done their simmer reading, only a handful raised their hands and they all argued with me that they didn’t know about it even though they have had summer reading every single year since elementary school. *sigh*
A couple funny things happened today. The first is that I have a student named “Darling”. Really? WTF were her parents thinking??!! I dunno, I just feel like that is a pet name, not something you name a child. Poor thing.
I also had a funny/weird situation with a kid in my 4th period which was Creative Writing. When the class was finished, a boy comes up to me and says he’s confused about where to go next. When I look closely at his schedule, I realize that he was supposed to be in my period 2 English I Honors class! He missed my 2nd period but somehow ended up in my 4th and then stayed there the whole period even though he isn’t even registered to take Creative Writing any period and I probably said the name of the class 15 times! He stayed for the whole class and listened to me go over the syllabus and explain the class, apparently never realizing that he was sitting in the wrong class. I asked him where he was during 2nd period and he said, “homeroom”.
I looked at him in disbelief.
“There is no ‘homeroom’”, I replied.
He sort of blinked back at me and said, “I’m confused”.
I replied, very slowly, “It’s easy. There are ODD days and there are EVEN days. On EVEN days, like today, you go to all your EVEN classes, 2, 4, 6, 8. So you have missed both my class, 2nd period, as well as your real 4th period.”
He stared back at me in confusion.
At this point, I took a highlighter and highlighted all the EVEN classes for him and told him to go to lunch and then 6th period.
The poor freshman.
Oh! I forgot to tell you guys! On Sunday, hot boy from the club on Friday texted me!!!! We actually had a text conversation that lasted three hours, but alas, he is only 21. =( <—— Major sad face. He added me on FB and he was hotter than I remember (never has happened with a guy I met in a club before) and I am sad he’s so young.
Oh well, at least I had fun and got chatted up by a hot guy. I’m off to bed because I am an old woman and I wake up at 5AM. Night!
Today was the first day back for the kiddos and oddly, I was super duper nervous. I mean I felt like a first year teacher again! I think this is the most nervous I have been since student teaching back in my senior year of college. I think the thing that got to me was having so many preps and knowing that my very first class of the day would be English I, a course I haven’t taught in awhile.
Despite being nervous, I donned my big girl pants this morning (purple nails for luck!),
and went to work with my head held high (realized mid-way through the day that I forgot earrings and was super sad).
The day went better than expected and I probably didn’t need to wake up at 5AM to get there a whole hour before school started, but I am glad I did. I felt ready even though I was so nervous and it helped that first period had a lot of administrative/paper work stuff that took up time.
Today started off interesting with only 5 students sitting in my 1st period when the bell ring. The class was already incredibly small with only 11 students registered, but after about 20 minutes, all of the students ended up showing. Still, it felt weird with only 11 students. I am so used to huge classes that it was almost awkward.
My second period of the day, 3rd period, seems very fun and energetic. It’s a Creative Writing class, so I have several students in there that I have had before. It made things much more comfortable.
My third period of the day, 5th period (English I Honors Gifted), seems like they are going to be a lot of work, but they also seem to have great personalities. I had a lot of student volunteering and discussion, which I love.
The last period of the day was 7th period, my Creative Writing honors class, who are the staff of the literary magazine. Having them 7th period was like coming home. I have had all of them before and there was no pressure to make sure I made a good impression. They are fabulous and I love them.
Phew! Tomorrow should be a little easier since 8th period is my planning period and I will only have to meet 3 new sets of kids.
Overall, I would say today was a great first day back.
How do you feel the first day on the job (teacher or otherwise)? Do you get nervous?
Even though I was ridiculously tired last night from my crazy work week, I dragged myself out of bed to go to Purdy Lounge with my good friend Jenny. We were supposed to meet two of her friends there, but their car broke down on the way there and they never made it. Regardless, we had an incredible time!
Here is what I wore:
I felt immensely fat because these jeans used to be big on me and I could barely get them on, but I put on my Spanx, push up bra, and heels and worked it anyway.
At the club, we got approached almost immediately by a group of 10 guys from London who were on a “boys holiday”. They were super fun and one in particular was hottt! We spent most of the night dancing and laughing with them. They were nice and bought both of us drinks, but they weren’t pushy and I enjoyed being doted on for a change. It’s been so long since I have been out and had guys hit on me… I almost forgot how fun it could be. The whole group of guys loved us and they would not stop flirting. It was the two of us and the ten of them, great odds!
After about and hour and a half, the London boys left to go to another club (but not before the hot one asked me if I was on FB and pulled out his phone and added me on the spot!) and Jenny and I continued dancing.
I swear, about 5 minutes passed before I felt a guy behind me. He tapped me on the shoulder and asked me my name and then we danced like I have not danced since college. Oh man! He was incredibly hot, my type in every single way. Tall, caramel complexion, great skin and teeth, well dressed… and he smelled amazing. When he started to nuzzle my neck I almost passed out. It has been awhile…
Alas, Jenny and I could not last much longer and around 2:30AM it was time to leave. As I said good-bye, he asked me for my number and said he would call me.
He hasn’t called tonight (it’s 10:50PM), but I don’t really care. Last night reminded me that I am not dead. That I can still flirt and attract men. That it can feel amazing to have a guy (or ten) hit on you. That being a single girl can be fun, even if it can also be lonely.
I know I already wrote about some of the changes happening this week during teacher pre-planning, but even more changes were brought about today that are just too noteworthy not to mention.
But first, let me just say that I am physically and mentally drained from this week. It is crazy that I thought that by going in on Monday I would be ready. I am so not ready and will probably be back at work tomorrow in order to be 100% done for the first day of school on Monday.
So yeah, about those changes.
1. Since several teachers left, everyone is moving classrooms. In my school there are several classrooms in the English hallway that do not have windows, so anytime a teacher who had a window leaves, someone always jumps on it. Let’s just say that at this point, I really have no idea who is where anymore
2. We got new textbooks. Yay, right? Well, not so much. You see, we were promised these books three years ago and no one knew they were coming this year so the books just sort of arrived and then there was this huge scramble to get the football boys to deliver them to our rooms this morning. But the football boys stacked the all the boxes of books in front of the board where I need to teach Monday so I had to recruit other football boys to come move the boxes again.
3. We are NOT allowed to get rid of the old textbooks because there is no place to store them in the school. So, we have to keep them in our rooms along with the new books until the vendors come to get them sometime in the next month. Let’s just say that I have about 800 textbooks in my room right now, 200 of which are in boxes. Yeah. That will look so great for the first day of school.
4. In my school we always had a person who made copies. You would turn in what you wanted copied, and two days later it would be in your mailbox ready to go. Well our principal has decided that we have been using too much paper and toner (rightly so I might add based on what I have seen some people copy) and so now there are all these limits on what you can copy. It looks like we are going to have to provide our own paper for copies (which I usually ask the students to bring in) and we will get a set number of copies to make ourselves. Everything about the copy situation is in limbo right now. We haven’t been given codes to use the machines, and the woman making copies is still working on stuff from June so things are a mess if you need copies for the first day of school. Luckily, I got my copies in early, but I feel bad for those who didn’t.
5. The class size reduction law that was passed a number of years ago is finally being mandated for compliance. This means that our school has until October 1, 2010 to have all core classes (Math, Science, English, and Social Studies) with 25 students or less. In a department that is down several teachers, this is hard to do. Our school’s solution is to offer classes online during the school day. So certain periods, students will be working independently in labs taking virtual classes instead of being in the classroom. I actually think it is a pretty good solution, except for the fact that these students are probably going to be using the laptops that I use for publishing with my creative writing classes. I have no idea what we are going to do if those laptops are not available. I can’t even begin to think about it right now.
So those are the changes that happened in the past day and half. I guess change is going to be the theme of the year this year as we seem to continue to get lots of new changes each day.
In regards to being ready, my classroom is 90% done, but I have a few minor things I need to address tomorrow. My lesson plans for the first week are done, but they are in my head and I need to formally write them down and print them and put them in my lesson plan binder. Something I guess I will have to also get done tomorrow.
I’m exhausted. I wish the kids and parents could see how hard we teachers have been working this week. Some of them just have no idea.
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