Frazzled Reflections

Here in the Midwest we are currently enduring the worst winter that I remember in 34 years. Sure, I've endured cold winters and I've endured snowy winters, but this winter takes the cake. Technically I have been back at school for 16 days. I have worked nine out of those 16 days because of snow/ice/cold days. We've heard about about the polar vortex, we've witnessed the weather reporters shivering in the cold all around the Midwest and Northeast, and we've seen the photos and memes advertising just how cold it is outside. With the last two days off of school I have stayed at home with my two young children, making the decision to not take them out into the cold to daycare. Yes, this winter appears to be quite the phenomenon. And it's not just because of the weather outside of our houses. For years there has been a lot of discussion in the scientific community concerning first "global warming" and now "climate change." The argument is that t...

It's difficult when I start a trilogy and I am not "in love" with the first book, especially when there are enough unanswered questions that I want the answers to. I feel the need to go on to the next book. I want to know the answers despite my initial lack of full personal investment. I enjoyed Divergent . It was a decent book by YA lit standards and it had some good points going for it, which I laid out in my first review . That being said, I was still a little hesitant about venturing into Roth's second book in the series, Insurgent . I exited Insurgent pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure what to expect. The extensive exposition in Divergent related to the budding romance between Tobias and Tris prepared me for more of the same. Instead the book moved past the unnecessary sexual tension between the two teenagers and moved into the story of a utopia falling to pieces around them. Those who escaped the Dauntless/Erudite-led attack on the Abnegation sector...

Sounds like a strange thing for a high school English teacher with a Master's degree to say, doesn't it? After all, I spend two periods a day with AP students who are supposedly planning to use any credit they might get on a College Board test to help them get through college faster. I spend the other three periods a day teaching juniors American Literature, most of whom will go on to college to earn a degree in their chosen field. But notice that I qualified that statement with the word "most." We are in a strange place in American education right now. Some changes are for the better but there many more changes and reforms necessary if we are going to regain our position as a world leader in education, innovation, economics, and politics. There are too many reforms to discuss in just one blog post so I am here to propose one change. Stop telling kids that the only way they can succeed in life is to get a four year college degree. I'm not saying that a col...

I love dystopias. I always have. I love the idea of looking at an utopia gone wrong. Dystopias are proof that our sinful natures prevent any kind of perfect world and they warn us against trying. When we try to create a perfect world we inevitably screw it up. Authors use dystopias to criticize society, to point out flaws with much more serious undertones than satire allows. So for my first book of 2014 I dove into a new dystopia, the Divergent series. The first book opens with 16-year-old Beatrice contemplating her future. She is approaching the choosing ceremony during which all 16-year-olds decide which faction they are going to join. This faction may, or may not, separate them from their family and determines their future lifestyle and occupation. Before they select their faction they take a simulation test that is supposed to help them determine which faction best fits their abilities and desires. Beatrice discovers that she isn't fit for just one faction, but three, mak...

Budget. It's a dirty word for a lot of us and it's taken me some time to figure out why. We're all told we should do it. All the financial advisers on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines tell us that we NEED to budget. To not follow a budget is to commit financial suicide. And they're right, yet so many of us, yours truly included, have failed to do so. It's taken some soul searching, but I think I may have figured out why I, at least, have failed to budget for my entire life. Much of it has to do with my misconceptions about what budgeting is and what it means. This is what I believed about budgeting three months ago. A budget means penny pinching . My dad has been a churchworker most of my life and my mom stayed at home. I loved growing up with my mom at home. It was a gift and now that I am a parent with adult responsibilities I understand how much of a personal and financial sacrifice that was. But that also meant that we didn't have much money growin...

Yes, it is January 11 and we are nearly two weeks into the new year, but that doesn't mean that it is too late to announce my goals for 2014. I did a decent job with my goals last year. I made progress and while some of my goals were not nearly as successful as others, I worked on all of them and can honestly say that I am still trying. But that doesn't mean that I am finished with the goal setting. I have more goals for the next year and I am already hard at work to accomplish some of these. So here are my Sarantees for 2014: I will declutter . My husband will laugh at this, if only because this seems like the impossible dream (cue Man of La Mancha ). Here's the thing, I have a paper problem. I joke that the only thing that could get my husband to divorce me might be my paper problem. I make piles in my house, I make piles in my classroom, and everywhere I go those piles spill over into other areas of my life. Important documents get lost and sometimes bills even get m...

2013 was a good year. It was full of challenges and successes, but overall I can say it was a year during which things were looking "up". A year ago I wrote a list of "Sarantees" for the year, things that I wanted to accomplish by the end of the year although I refused to make them official resolutions. So, how did I do? I will strive to be a better wife and mother . I am constantly working on this one. Even yesterday this proved to be a struggle as my sweet, sick little boy misbehaved in every way possible for the last couple of hours before finally falling asleep. It's almost as if sleeping for nearly 48 hours straight makes even the littlest amongst us less desirous of sleep. But I always need to be better. I need to put my phone away more, play with them more, and talk with them more. I did much better this year and being done with grad school has definitely helped! I've also been better about date night, making it a priority in our monthly budget to...