Texas Forever

Ok, I get so giddy in my heart when I even think about talking about Texas. I know so many people have so many negative things to say about Texas and let me tell ya you have two options....

                  A) Close out of this blog post now
                  B)  Hate-read this blog post now


Either way, I don't care. Don't even leave your negative comments because I don't care and I don't have an open ear to them! I think of Texas as my life-time love. Barton Springs, floating the river in New Braunfels (not San Marcos' nasty river you disgusting scrubs), Billy Bob's, the Riverwalk, TEXAS A&M, the amazing food, and the amazing people are all just some of the things that make Texas superior to everything (oh yeah I'm one of those people who will shamelessly say Texas is better).

People who move from Texas always like to have shirts/whatever that say Texas forever or Texas made, whatever. Hey if you loved it why aren't you here? You're leaving too much open room for people who are anti-Texas to move in!

Any 80s-90s country music fans out there? "Texas Wants You Anyways" the song....eh I'm not so sure I agree with it. However, my mom is technically from WI so I guess I have to be ok with non-native Texans. JUST KIDDING! Oh my gosh loosen up Marge! ;)

One thing I get asked just about every day as a teacher is "Miss you got a Texas on yo foot?" Why yes, I do. 18 year old me knew it was a good idea to permanently ink a Texas on my left foot. I think every school I've ever worked at has had a policy to cover up tattoos but that gets really time consuming so shhhhh. When I was in Bryan I was told several times (by students) that that was gang-affiliated. Oops.

The point is that Texas is a recognizable shape (see the article that went viral about how people in Europe could only recognize Texas out of American states....no really, see it because I never actually read it and it may or may not be about what I just described). Anyways, it's important to show off as much obnoxious Texas pride as possible. I have a lot of Texas jewelry including some dollar store TX flag earrings that my little sister Meg LOATHES. Lucky for her I am more sophisticated now and just got the CUTEST Texas earrings from Sideline Sass Boutique. They have tons of cute stuff and the boutique is owned by an Aggie who happens to be one of the sweetest people e-ver. I got the earrings in today and I think I ordered them like five seconds ago so I am impressed!




My 2013-2014 Texas related obsession is Friday Night Lights. I cannot believe I didn't give it a try back when it was originally on TV. If you haven't watched the FNL seasons stop what you're doing, and go find them; you won't regret it! Why? Two words. Tim. Riggins.




Tim. Riggins.

FNL embodies everything I love about Texas and I think I thought I was a part of the cast when I binged on the seasons last year. Anyways, I live in Pflugerville where a lot of the scenes were filmed and if you are a fan of FNL you will join me in my excitement (unless you're not a stalker) that there is a Fridat Night Lights tour of Austin! Taive and I (Jasper too, I guess) are fully committed to wasting a Saturday doing this.


Looking back, re-reading this post I realize it has nothing to do with anything but I'm too lazy to add transitions to make it make sense. The point is this:

Clear Eyes

Full Hearts

Can't Lose


Oh and of course.....

Texas Forever

This Old House

I've always had a dream that I would one day live in an adorable old house. I've always wanted a tin roof and a front porch. I now have all of those things and just want out, out, out!

Taive and I own our house in Bryan but we rent our house in Pflugerville (built and last cleaned before we moved in in 1945). It's the perfect location for work because it was 2 minutes from my job (40 from his but that's not important). I thought it was the cutest thing ever and we were happy with it overall.Then we made the mistake of complaining of a roof leak. The solution the company found has been to scrape every scrap of paint off of this house. They also have decided to do so at a rate of one board per day. I mean I know it's hot and I know I have absolutely zero knowledge or experience but I am still pretty confident I could do it faster. Actually Meg (my sister) and I did scrape and paint fences at pioneer farms summer camp. Great camp. If you're interested in going in the hot summer to a place where they make you wear a long sleeved pioneer dress and do their land chores like paint, clean, feed livestock, and make lard soap it's a phenomenal camp.

Anyways, the guys who are painting the house are the nicest guys ever. Two are for sure felons but the nicest felons ever. Today I was bringing in groceries and one got off the paint ladder and came and helped because he saw that I had Jasper with me. Jasper loves to babble at the man who is the leader of their crew. Luckily at this rate the house will be finished in January so we'll really get to know 'em! We've also learned through this that our dogs are worthless as guard dogs.They hate confrontation.

I do love that we have a front porch but unfortunately I'm married to a man who thinks the front porch is a good place for trash, dropping off stuff out of his truck, etc. on our porch/porch furniture currently there are beach towels, a tervis tumblr, two pairs of boots, and a tarp. Luckily our across the street neighbor is SUCH a hoarder people haven't complained about us to authorities yet.

I'm glad I've had this old home experience so that I know it's not all pros and there are de-de-definitely some cons. Whenever I become a millionaire I'll have a historic home that's been frequently updated! I will be hiring those painters again though because they said Jasper is the cutest and that's what wins points with me!

People who need to shut up (spoiler alert-it's everyone!)

       OH. MY. GOSH. Hallelujah its Summer! I am so lucky I am a teacher and have the easiest job in the world and get paid to hang around with kids and then even get paid when I'm not working! OMG LOLZ!

      No.

     Let's clear up that this is not gonna be a post about how teaching is the hardest job ever. I also want to clear up the misconception that I'm getting tons of paid vacation. False. I get paid a daily rate for 187 days of work (and was forced by my district to work 192 without extra pay but I digress). School districts used to not pay teachers over the summer and just took their daily rate x 187 and divided that number by 10 months and paid them accordingly. Teachers (I guess) weren't great at budgeting for those summer months, so they now divide that number by 12 months.

      Now that that is all cleared up, lets get to it! This season is the most annoying time to be a teacher. It's always annoying to be a teacher because everyone in the world knows exactly what it's like to do your job and could even do it better than you! However, this season is especially annoying because everyone says "man I wish I'd been a teacher!" I have decided to just reply with "You should do it!"

      Don't get me wrong, I think teaching is the best job in the entire world. There are days I leave thinking "Oh my gosh I can't believe I get paid to do that!" There are also days like just this past week when my school was on lock-down because of a man with a gun around the campus where I think "Hmmmm...this is not worth it!" The same parents who want me to die because I gave their kid an 88 instead of a 90 expect me to die for their child if an emergency happens. Totes fair. There are a lot of mean spirited articles going back and forth about how teaching IS the HARDEST job in the world and then articles arguing that teaching IS the EASIEST job in the world. I think teachers feel the need to defend themselves so much because of the way we are treated but I don't think either are true at all. I just think teaching is one of jobs where the most people who have absolutely zero experience whatsoever feel totally comfortable telling teachers exactly what their job is like/how easy it is. If it was really easy and glamorous we probably wouldn't be one of the highest turnover careers.

      So, long story short, shut up non-teachers. You have absolutely no clue what it's like to stand in front of a classroom. I know Lawyers who quit teaching because it was too difficult. I also know of a former police officer who admittedly finds teaching in the classroom more intimidating than he found police work. Have you ever had to stand in front of a group of people and give a presentation? Was that intimidating for you? What if those people were in and out of legal trouble and it was solely up to you to control their behavior all while ensuring their academic growth. If that doesn't sound easy, then teaching wouldn't be for you. Much like anything else wouldn't be for me!
 
      Also, teachers shut up about how we have the hardest job in the world. How could you possibly know that? Have you attempted every job? No. You don't have to feel so defensive about your job. If people don't respect it then just  invite them to sub in your class one day and feel sorry for their future teachers who have to deal with a child raised by parents who have no respect for teachers. I think the people who attack how easy a teacher's job is really deep down wish they felt more fulfilled in their jobs. It also could be that they are just sick of hearing teachers complain complain complain about having the hardest job EVER. So on that note...STOP SAYING THAT!

      Non-teachers, I have no earthly idea what it's like to sell insurance, be a doctor, be a pharmacist, be a mechanic, be a musician, or be a store manager. I can only assume there are TONS of hardships and annoyances day in and day out that make your jobs insanely difficult. I just know that I would absolutely never say "Oh! I wish I had been a __________ that sounds SO easy!" I know that every job has tough aspects because I STILL have stress dreams about when I was in high school working at Sonic. When people want their Route 44 Cherry Limeades they WANT. IT. NOW!

     So! Next time you think about telling a teacher how easy their job is, just remember what a little brat you were. Or you can think about how you can't control your own child in the grocery store, and you only have 1-max 5- unless you're a Duggar. Remember that your own job is difficult and you wouldn't want to be constantly bombarded by advice on how to do it by people who don't know you or comments about how easy it must be.

      Teachers, stop being defensive divas and saying our jobs are harder than anyone else's because that's just crazy. Some jobs are easy for some that would be hard for others and the opposite is true. If I had to be a computer programmer I would get fired in about, eh, 3 minutes. I can't even use Excell spreadsheets. In fact, I literally just googled how Excell spreadsheets spells "Excell." I thought there was a cutsie focus around the X. I guess not, but there should be. You're welcome Microsoft.

      Be thankful for the job you have and if you love it you shouldn't have to justify it. If you know it sucks then either get the heck out of there or at least just admit that it sucks.

      Most importantly. I will be back to blogging because IT'S SUMMER AND I HAVE THE SUMMER OFF BECAUSE I AM SO LUCKY I'M TEACHER AND I HAVE THE EASIEST JOB IN THE WORLD!!!!! ;)