Contentment :)

Just a little update, please excuse the giant run-on sentence that might follow. 

Spring Break.  Best invention ever.  I remember in the first weeks of school in the midst of panic attacks and crying fits calling my sis-in-law Karla(5th year teacher) and whining... begging the question "will this year go by fast?..."  "will it ever get better??"  The answers were yes, and yes.  She did say something like, when you are in the middle of it, you honestly feel like it's as if time were standing still.. but looking back it seems to have been in the blink of an eye.... I can remember calling and e-mailing Blake at work telling him how I didn't feel myself and I hated my job... a novella later I came across a quote I've come to live by "Fake it till you make it..." and on loving kids that are sometimes not easy to be around... "Fake it till you believe it" :) ...So here I am in March and I can honestly say that some days felt like they would never end..  but I blinked and the year is over halfway over and I'm in the "home stretch," I love almost every single minute of teaching... and God is good.  I would have never dreamed in September/October that I wouldn't be frantically applying to anywhere else.  I already had plans to get out of Houston and never turn back.  Once again, it is March and for better or for worse, I am here...I kind of love my job on most days, and  I haven't filled out one application... I'm content.  Sort of. For the most part :)

I was in the car driving a good 24 hours over Spring Break.  Saw some of my favorite people, in Atlanta, Plano, Houston, and San Marcos... a quick trip to Liberty MO would have brought me full circle :)  I am refreshed, I am kind of excited about going back to work completely prepared tomorrow.  I did some shopping and got a little color on my pasty white skin so I am completely content with going back to work looking nothing like the "Teacher Barbie" I saw on the shelves at Target, but plenty confident!!

I think that life is looking up :)  I have a full bucket of things to be COMPLETELY thankful for.  I am back to being my optimistic, positive and laid-back self (regardless of a few minor hiccups in the fall).  I am a happy dreamer, and a hopeless romantic.  I am a grown up that still feels like a 12 year old inside... but I don't mind it.  Once again, God is good.

So... what's next?

Always waiting on the next best thing....

Lauren  :)

My life as a crazy cat lady...

Six months ago I was an energetic-ish young adult college student, staying up late making mischief(okay not really), living with my best friends, next door to the greatest neighbors ever... loving life.

God has a funny sense of humor.

I have now reached my ultimate destiny as a lonely old school teacher/cat lady... literally.  I go to bed incredibly early, I eat dinner around 4.  I preset my coffee on a daily basis... I use splenda...

Obviously I quit blogging... sorry to the three family members who so faithfully read my stories with love and devotion... I've been busy.

I think my last blog ended on a positive note, the first day of school. I thought my biggest problems were chatter box children.  HA.  These days it is more about kids throwing over their desks, on a regular basis shredding paper, and LOTS of girl drama.  Which I love. I did get an apple one day.. pretty sure it was stolen.  Sometimes.. I dislike those kids. Even so, I love them so much... it's a good thing I'm a forgiving person. 

I would love to update something wildly entertaining about my personal life.. but unfortunately I eat, sleep, and breathe third graders.  I wake up in the morning usually in a panic about making copies or fractions or about what to do if a little friend flips their lid.  I go to school and I usually begin my day with lots of hugs.  That's when it gets ugly... after the hugs.  Sometimes I think it's me... I last about an hour until I'm ready to run out the front doors and quite and then some random 1st grader whom I've never seen will run up to me and grab my legs... "HI MISS EDWARDS!!!!" ... ok ok ... I'll stay.  I pass out stickers and fuzzies and bribes of all kinds... because apparently you can't use the yard stick as a weapon, and I move on with my day.

I've always wanted to be a teacher.  I've wanted to be a teacher since I was four years old and I used to play school in my bedroom.  I still want to be a teacher, it's still my dream.  I'm still in love with kids... BUT writing mean notes home is not as fun as it was when I was "playing pretend." 

Like I said, God has a GREAT sense of humor. :)