When students show improvement

Thursday, I again fell asleep before updating this blog. Super busy evening after school. But I did have 2 related moments that made me smile. I think I may have posted something similar already, but when my students are succeeding, I am ecstatic! I have a group of 5th graders who are truly excelling and listening to them play makes me so happy. I love listening to them get better and better. I had a moment during their class that I thought to myself "I must be crazy because I'm enjoying the sound of 5th grade band kids right now...."

Then later in the day I had a private flute student. She has come so far. When she started she was a timid player and now she is doing so well. We are starting to work on strengthening her tone and it's just so enjoyable to hear the player she has become now!! 

Thankful for students that don't drive me crazy!!

Post Dinner party

Well, my Pampered Chef party went off just as well as I was hoping!! Everyone seemed to have a good time, and my consultant made some sales. The whole thing went so well that I collapsed into bed after doing a little cleaning up! I am thankful for my friends, yet again. They were such wonderful company. It was also fun to bring together some different groups of people. My consultant and one friend are Teachers with me, then I had two of my swimming/triathlon friends, then mixed in many of my sailing friends. Couldn't ask for more!
I am also pretty happy that my black bean chocolate cookies went over fairly well. I wasn't 100% sure about them, but people seemed to like them!!

Pre Dinner Party Excitement

My mom was someone who could be quiet, or the most social person you can imagine. She truly loved having a good time. That included going out to a regatta party, having a few friends over, throwing a holiday dinner, or hosting the annual "onion soup" party at Put in Bay. I like to believe I am pretty similar to her!! So tomorrow, I am hosting a pampered chef party. And what I am excited about most is having people over for a dinner party!! I know part of the deal is the consultant will make a dish, and so I made some apps and a dessert, and am supplying drinks. But as I am getting ready, I realized how happy it is making me to have friends over  for a little party! I am busting out the good china (since I try not to use disposable plates if i can help it) and maybe even the good silver.
Tonight my final thought before heading to bed is maybe I should throw dinner parties more often!! (and we will see if I still feel this way tomorrow at this time! 

Sometimes practice goes by quickly

After a pretty intense workout yesterday, my body was feeling a little sore today. Legs stiff from the hills and upper back stiff from swimming sprints. But still headed to swimming practice tonight to hopefully stretch out. Coach bob kept us moving all night. There was no downtime in the workout, so although it was a little exhausting, it was definitely a workout that you couldnt keep looking to see how much time. So I have to admit the tough workout wasn't bad. Made practice move quickly. Even the 8x25 fly at the end went quickly!!

Now bedtime so I can get up and do a bike trainer workout in the morning!!

Friends who encourage

I think I might have written about this already, but today I'm again thankful for friends who encourage and push me. This morning I joined the CSU tri team practice. I am not a runner, and was way behind everyone, and suffered on the hill repeats, but I made it, and had friends supporting me and encouraging me the whole time. It's a lot harder to walk when you know people are watching you!! (I had to walk a little but found it in me to get back to running after a few seconds each time!)

While I was running down one of the hills (let's face it, I wasn't thinking much while going up...!!) I thought why on earth did I think I wanted to do this, but then realized it's all for the feeling after, and my friends told me I could do it!! So although it's completely my choice, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been running in and out of "the pit" downtown at 830 this morning!! Thanks ladies!!

Wonderful sunshine!

Had a nice Saturday. Swam this morning, then went to a friends pampered chef party. When I realized how close her new house is to mine, I thought, hey the sun is out, it's warming up, I should bike there!! My only hesitancy was the possibility of ice on the roads, but after getting some confirmation that I should do it, just be careful, I bundled up and headed out the door! The two things I didn't consider were the intense wind, and the fact that it would be mostly uphill all the way to her house! Plus I took my hybrid comfy bike since it has slightly bigger tires than my road bike. Made for a tough ride there, but really enjoyable. I should have gone for a further ride when I was leaving, but decided to just head home. Gotta love Cleveland weather, it's gonna be back down to single digits later this week!!

Anyways, I'm thankful for the short break in weather. Nothing beats a little sunshine and temps above freezing! 

Re-newed excitement

My friends and I have spent a fair amount of time during this "off season" and cold winter months planning out our race season. For me this includes sailing, triathlons, running and swimming... a lot going on! And I will admit lately I have had a hard time getting motivated to work out. Sure, I will head to masters swim practices, but I have not been motivated for 5am workouts yet, and have not spent as much time on the bike trainer as I should be.
Tonight I headed to the Cleveland Triathlon Club winter/spring meeting. While seeing mostly all new faces, we heard a speaker who is the author of a book about the internal workings of doping in the pro cycling ring. The book sounds fascinating, and is now on my must read list! (The Secret Race by Daniel Coyle and Tyler Hamilton)

But also, there was a social aspect of the night. After the meeting and book reading, we got our membership cards and headed next door for food and drink. Met some new people, and hung out with old. And in listening to other people, I think I have found some of my motivation back. Being around all these other people who are decidedly more crazy than I am, I am excited and feel guilty at the same time about the upcoming season. Excited for everything to come, guilty that I have been so lazy lately! But with both of those feelings in there, hopefully I can get some more workouts in regularly and not just wait for someone else to say "hey lets go!!"

The places you'll go...online!

I am fortunate (and realistic enough to realize) that I live in the age of the internet as far as knowledge and resources go. Yea I will admit the abundance of false stuff out there is unfortunate, but I love that I can look up just about anything I need. I can purchase items after sitting on my couch and researching the best price, I can constantly have thousands of recipes at my fingertips, I can lay out basic plans about a trip I'm going to take in a few months and research travel and lodging! And yes, I did each one of these today. Thank you hotels.com, amazon.com and my favorite food blog "budget bytes!" 

When I started writing tonight's post, I planned on it being about how I am thankful for the budget bytes blog because of the easy, affordable and healthy recipes on it. I have started to make most of our meals based on the recipes found there. But as I started typing I noticed that really my thankfulness extends so far past just one blog! So I guess I will stick with I am thankful for the internet! (This post is purposely ignoring all of the bad that comes with the internet, so just be optimistic with me!!)

It coulda been worse!

Today I had a few speed bumps. But there were positive points, so I'll only talk about those tonight! After finding out my car had a flat tire, Corey reminded me I had a compressor in the back! Hooray! So during my planning I went out and was able to pump it up. Then the hope was that it would stay filled enough to get to the tire store. And it did! Slow leak I guess. Then to make things even better (and I don't mean that sarcastically!!) Conrad's was able to get me in and out very quickly, and since I bought my tires there, they fixed it free of charge!! Woohoo!!  It could have been so much worse. One of the roads I take to work is considered one of the worst roads in Cleveland right now as far as potholes go. Ugh! So the question is now, do I start to detour to work and take an extra 20 min? Or continue to drive very slowly down the cobbled road? You would think they could start filling the holds by now!!

More fresh fish and friends

We almost have a habit/tradition going on now!! For the 3rd time this year, Corey has come home with a fair amount of fish, and for the 2nd time we invited people over to help us enjoy it!! So yet again tonight we had a wonderful perch dinner with friends. It's nice to have company, and these dinners are so casual that it's easy. (And it gives me reason to keep the house cleaner!!)

Thank you to Melanie and Ron for coming!!

Thankful that Corey catches all this fish and that we have people to enjoy all that fosh'n

ski day!

You can't complain when you come home from a day of fun and fall into bed, and asleep so fast that you don't have time to update your blog!
Got to spend a beautifully sunny day snowboarding in New York yesterday. This winter has been so fantastic!! I am someone who is not complaining about the snow!
Hooked up with a friend I haven't hung out with in a few years and we headed east. I am thankful that Corey taught me to snowboard a few years ago, and even more thankful that I have the ability to occasionally hit the slopes. I'm not fantastic, but can get down any green/blue hill and an occasionaly black diamond. We did NOT try the double black "Wall" :-) I had no need to hurt myself yesterday!!

To make me even happier after a great 3 day weekend, I woke up to find out we have a snowday today!!

Honest people

Todays thankful post may be a little more materialistic than normal, but I'll try to spin it a different way! Today I am thankful for honest people on craigslist!! We have had some great purchases on craigslist. Each time we are entirely careful, trying to get as much background information as possible. I have gotten musical instruments, bikes, cars and now a new iphone. We got lucky, this guy got his phone, decided he wanted a bigger screen, and was getting rid of his almost brand new phone!! Found him by pure luck on friday, met with him today at Staples, and he waited around long enough for us to check it out, and set it up. (we had already checked the ID to make sure it wasn't stolen)

But so as thankful and excited I am for my new iphone, I am glad there are still honest people out there to be found on the internet!!

walking on ice!

I walked out on the ice saturday morning with Corey to the ice shanty he was planning to spend the day in. Such a weird feeling walking about a mile "offshore" over the area that I normally am sailing, swimming, kayaking or playing in.... Right now there is so much snow covering the ice that you dont even realize it's the same area. You just feel like you're walking across a field. Then you really think about it, and realize that you're standing over a foot of snow, 2 feet of ice, and then 20-30 feet of water!!! Thankful for my safety!!

friday flight

I sat in a fairly good professional develoment meeting all day friday. Not the best ever, but I give our administration credit for at least trying to get something worthwhile for the music teachers! Talked about assessment that actually benefits us!! Then I headed to put in bay.

This island has been part of my life forever. We were never considered islanders, and we werent even home owners until 14 years ago, but we would visit for several weeks every year and I have tons of memories there. I am thankful that I have the ability to go up there whenever now! Friday night i hopped onto the plane and took the 10 minute trip over the ice to the island. First time I've been back since Christmas. Still such a cool experience. And such a cool place in the winter! So quiet, so different looking with all the snow. Looking forward to the relaxing weekend at dad's house!

student dance and swim practice

Opened up the blog, and I had two ideas to write about for my thankful post today. So without giving you a whole rundown of my day, I will try to briefly explain what made me happy today!
This afternoon my students had a school dance. It was nice to see the kids dressed up and having such a good time. I love getting to see them outside of the classroom when you can see their goofy personalities, and be goofy right there with them! I showed off a few of my dance moves, but mostly took yearbook pictures. Despite the gym reaching what seemed like 100 degrees and super smelly! The afternoon was fun.

Then tonight, after making a great homemade pizza (thanks Melanie for the dough recipe) with my first time making my own crust; I headed to swim practice. Our Thursday night practices are an hour later than normal and usually are a little tough to get motivated. Also our Thursday night coach often does a little more drill and not as tough practice. Well tonight... HE was motivated!! After doing 750 yards of kicking, we swam 14 sets of 100 yards at a pretty fast pace. It was one of those paces that I knew I could do the first 4-5 no problem and get a good workout, so my friend and I decided we would do as many as we good, and if we slowed down and couldn't make it, we would switch to the other set (longer intervals). Well, 5 go by, and we're still making it with about 10 seconds rest... and then 8 go by, and although i felt like I was dying, we were still making the time... so we finished it out. By the end, we were exhausted! And coach was feeling pretty proud of himself! He takes pleasure in our pain.  But although it was tough, and i want to whine about it... the good part is that I know I have become a stronger swimmer.... A year ago, I couldn't have completed that whole set without taking a break, or doing the slower sendoff... But I was making it! So, I guess I owe a thank you to our coaches for pushing us!

Live theater

Living in Cleveland, I have come to love all there is to do here! Especially playhouse square! Cleveland's Playhouse Square boasts one of the top 5 theater districts in the country!! We have regular top level tours plus several other shows going on all the time. I have been fortunate to see some great shows here. Tonight I went to see Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. It was excellent. Definitely darker and heavier than I expected, but per usual standards, the performance was great!

The thing I am most thankful for today... Playhouse Square, and their $10 smart seats!! For only 10 bucks you can see almost any big show if you get your tickets early. Sure you're pretty high up, but there is nothing better than a live performance. Especially when it's cheaper than a movie theater!!

More fresh fish

Corey came home with some more fresh walleye this weekend! 2 28" fish, and knowing full well that we really can't eat that much on our own, we invited 2 friends over to join. I am very happy to say that dinner turned out great. The walleye was fantastic, I made an easy side of roasted potatoes. The company was great! And they even brought dessert and helped clean up. Tuesday evenings can't get much better than that!

I didn't have a case of the Monday's

I think because of all of our snow days, I have not been dreading Mondays. Although Sunday evening I sure would have liked one more day to relax, Monday morning I had no problem getting moving for the day.
Overall, it was an uneventful day. Students were normal, taught general music and band. Got busy Monday evening tidying up the house and getting organized for having dinner guests Tuesday. Made another batch of homemade yogurt. All was pretty good. So I guess my thankful thought for the day was I am thankful for no drama, and a smooth day.

Encouragement goes a long way

Today I competed in an Indoor Triathlon with my friend Chelsea. Last year I did this same event, and was battling a major cold/flu, so was glad to come back to it this year with a better ability to breath, and not feeling feverish!!

The swim went fairly well, though I was one of the faster people in my heat, so it was really hard to gauge how hard to push myself, in the end i was about 50-75 yards short of where I wanted to be. On the spin bike, I spun too hard in the beginning and strained a muscle in my quad, so i was having to alternate peddling with one foot while stretching my quad, and both feet with some pain. On the run, i settled in and ran exactly where I guessed I would. Settled right into a 10 min/mile pace.

But this blog isn't about a race report. So I want to throw a huge thank you out to the competitors, my awesome friend Chelsea and some of the fantastic volunteers. The volunteers really stepped it up and helped push me. Chelsea kept me smiling through the pain, and the competitors pushed me. I truly appreciate the woman in the spin room who not only was the most entertaining person i've met, but gave me a face to face pep talk to keep me going through the 20 min spin. Helped me power up. The encouragement from all the people around me was what made me keep going!

Without all those people, it just wouldn't be worth it! Thankful for volunteers, friends and competitors!!

Bananas and chocolate

I love bananas. I eat them every day, and feel very weird when I don't have one! That being said, tonight I made a great milkshake that for sure will be repeated. I meant to take pictures, but finished it too fast!!

2 bananas, 1tb dark cocoa powder (unsweetened), 1 tb peanut butter, a generous squeeze of honey, some milk and ice cubes. SO GOOD!! And pretty healthy! I use 1% organic milk but I'm sure any milk substitute would work!

So tonight I am thankful for chocolate and bananas!

Warmth

About two years ago, I began house hunting. I knew this was a big ordeal, and although I loved my apartment, Corey and I decided we were done renting. We found our house and I love it. We have great room sizes, original hardwood floors, and best of all a working, wood burning fireplace! Now with this major cold front hanging out, tonight I am thankful for our fireplace.

A Good Run Helps...

To be honest, I was in a bit of a rut this weekend, Not feeling 100% and camped on the couch most of the weekend. And  I have been in a bit of a workout rut for a couple weeks. But today, I finally got off my butt and went for a run. It wasn't my best run ever, but I managed to push through it (Even without my wonderful running partner!) I am thankful for my health, and my running shoes. And the wonderful feeling after the run! I have to say that I was in a better mood after the run.

It's not the beautiful outdoors, but it'll do!

When we bought our house I had a few things that weren't necessities, but things I really wanted to include. I wanted a room to teach flute lessons in, and a space that could be used as a workout space. A little over a year ago, we found the perfect house with both of those things. Oh yea, and bedrooms, bathroom, hardwood floors etc...! :-)
Tonight I finally set up my bike trainer for the first time this winter on our 3rd floor. This finished space has turned into a rec room of sorts with a ping pong table and plenty of space for workouts, bike, and even some Wii, if you feel so inclined!
 Now that I have gotten over the bump of setting it up and being lazy, it's time to start logging some solid time sitting on that bike! It will be outdoor season before I know it!

Sometimes its worth it!

I have usually considered myself a pretty practical person. And when Corey suggested a few years ago that I should replace my dead blender with a vita-mix, I thought he was crazy. "Who needs something like that??!" I thought! "I only make smoothies..." Well, we found one discounted on Ebay, never been used, and I have never looked back! He was right... my Vitamix has revolutionized my smoothies! (And soup, and hummus, and soon to try peanut butter)
Then just over a year ago, before we approached our first winter in our first home, he found a large snowblower on craigs list. I looked at him, and at it, and was like "Really, what on earth do we need one that big for! We have arms, our driveway isnt THAT long..." But he insisted, and again.. he was right!

Today, I had full intention of pushing our snow before I left for work (we have this amazing pusher that works 10x better than a shovel when the snow is light enough) but sadly within seconds I realized the snow was much too deep and heavy for the pusher. So I sent him a message that I would have to be blown. Well he did, but it continued to snow all day, enough so that when I got home at 4.... I got stuck trying to pull in the driveway. So I go get the shovel, free my car and realize the logical choice to rev up the blower instead of trying to shovel my way into the driveway. Man that thing is nice.... Thank you Corey for convincing me!

And to my friends who shoveled their entire driveways today... You get mad props....!! I did our back sidewalk and front stairs (the areas the blower couldn't do), and crap that was tough! You did your upper body workout for the day!

So today I am thankful for the things that sometimes just turn out to really be worth it!! (Side note, the picture is just half of the driveway. )

Bus trip to the slopes

Living in Ohio, the skiing and snowboarding isn't exactly the BEST ever... but not too far away in NY there are some decent resorts. Today I was lucky enough to hook up with a bus trip out of a ski shop in my home town to go spend the day snowboarding. Double bonus.... group discounted lift tickets, and I didn't have to drive myself there or home!!

Haven't gotten the chance to ride in almost 2 years, so I was pretty psyched to get out there today. My friend was trying her hand (or feet?) at snowboarding for the first time, so while she checked out a lesson, I hit the lifts. Found some friendly lift riding people to chat with in the beginning, then later did some riding with a girl that was on the bus trip with us (her fiance was also back on the beginner hill). Overall, a pretty great day. Slopes were a little crunchy and icy at first, but with it snowing all day, we had some powder at the end of the day before we had to pack it up and get on the bus.

Such a great feeling riding down the hills, and even better, NO INJURY! Had 1 pretty impressive wipeout that I hope someone enjoyed watching, but nothing hurt after, so that's a plus! I knew I was going too fast! :-)

Time to get ready for work. Pretty cold tomorrow AM... think we can get another snow day? HAH

Homemade, and naps

Took snow day # 6 in a pretty relaxing fashion!! Hung out in bed, read quite a bit, made some homemade yogurt, dinner, nap... nothing spectacular! The good news, I stayed warm all day, and read on Facebook how cold it was outside.
Have to admit, there isn't much better than making products from scratch, in tuesdays case, yogurt! and then some dinner, and some dessert in a mug. It's been a long time since I've made yogurt, definitely looking forward to enjoying it.

One more snow day, then hopefully back to work.

Sometimes it's nice to get recognized

Every quarter, we give awards to our students for honor roll, merit roll, character, improvement, attendance etc. It's nice, and you can tell some of the kids get really excited about it. Well unbeknownst to the teachers, the principal and asst. principal at one of my schools decided they would start recognizing teachers too. I wasn't present for the assembly since I was at my other schools, but when I arrived, our asst. principal immediately asked if I heard the news? Well after a very confusing conversation because she wasn't sure she was supposed to tell me, I find out that I got an award at the assembly. My principals recognized my positive attitude and hard work with the students. Awesome! So I was very grateful as they handed me the certificate. But what felt even better, was that throughout the afternoon, students who were at the assembly were proud that I got an award, and they kept telling me about it! Hey they were paying attention!! "Hey Miss Skoch, Congratulations!" "high five!" As nice as it is to get recognized for what I do from the principals, it's even nicer to get a little thanks from students!

Thankful for soft Kleenex!

Developed a bit of a cold, and today's brief post will be that I am thankful for soft Kleenex, the kind with lotion. It even better Vicks! I'm usually the kind of person who will use whatever napkin or papertowel that is available to me, but of course my nose pays for that... So I went out and bough the lotion Kleenex, and now my nose is slightly happier! 

At least swim practice gave me an hour of normal breathing!!

Teaching something you're excited about.

I became a band teacher because I LOVE playing instruments and think all kids should try it. I purposely teach middle school because I love teaching all the beginning band stuff.

The best part, is teaching things you are excited about. 4 years ago I taught general music to k-8, and with the older kids I was usually trying to think of "what would I want to learn" or "what would be interesting to me?" In hopes those lessons would be just a little more interesting. Well now, on top of my 8 band classes, I teach two sections of general music to 5th and 6th grade. I'll admit there have been challenges but I've managed to create some units that haven't winded up half bad. Always room for improvement. But what I am getting at tonight, with this post, is a unit I am looking forward to beginning either tomorrow or next week! 

I have ALWAYS loved Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals!! Cinderella, the Sound of Music, the King and I....so now in my general music class, we are going to cover the King and I!! I figure this is a musical with an interesting story for middle schoolers, songs they may have heard before, and are catchy, and it's one they probably haven't learned or watched before!!

So tonight I worked out how I am gonna introduce it, and am pretty excited about starting it! 

Now here's to sorta hoping for no snow day tomorrow so that I can get this project underway!!

When they just get it!

Ok, I've gotten out of habit of posting before bed, but I have actually taken time each day I think about something positive!

Yesterday I had this with 2 classes.... Some students finally "clicked." I have had 2 classes that have been a little bit of a struggle. Students not practicing, forgetting instruments, not trying etc. But yesterday one of these classes finally made it through almost a whole new piece with minimal technical problems!! We still have a long way to go to make it good, but I am at least encouraged they finally got the rhythms down!! (Their concert is a month away.. Here's hoping!!)

In another class later, a student has been struggling with her flute. No idea when her fingers do what, struggling with sound 90% of the time, but Friday and yesterday, we finally started to get a good sound out!! Now, when she says she has practiced I might actually believe her! 

Anyways, moments like these add to why I became a teacher. It's for the triumphs, the successes. It just takes a lot of tries to get there sometimes!!

Casual Sundays.

Lazy Sunday really. Spent most of the morning in my pjs. I think I'm starting to get a cold, so it was nice to just lounge and read. Watched the snow fall and create a beautiful scenery outside! Made my first attempt at venison burgers, which actually were pretty good! Might make the next lb of venison into a stew or chili? Recipes welcome!

Went to a friends to watch the Super Bowl and I have to admit it really didn't hold my attention. I've never really followed pro sports but occasionally enjoy watching a game. Plus I would choose football over basketball or baseball. But tonight's one sided game couldn't keep me interested. The company was the good part. Low key, hung out with some sailing friends. 

I'm thankful today for my eclectic group of friends. I believe I have posted about them already, but I love that I have friends of diverse ages (25-55) and all different careers, backgrounds. But it makes hanging out that much more enjoyable when someone always has a story to tell!!

Excited about cooking

Earlier this week I was excited about getting back into making my own yogurt, then Thursday and Friday I started thinking about the possibility of making my own bread. The bread idea got even more exciting when I realized my dad has a bread maker sitting unused in storage!! To continue the homemade trend,  Friday night my friend gives me a easy DIY pizza crust recipe.

Today I got to take all this excitement and plans to a Pampered Chef party and try not to spend too much money!! Luckily I have enough sense to not go crazy, but of course since my wish list was getting longer I decided to host a party to get some good deals!!

I thought back to my parents house and realized how much pampered chef stuff we had that was used regularly! I am looking forward to cooking and making more homemade stuff. Now if only I had more of a green thumb and could contribute to growing some of our own produce!! Hah! 

Instead I spent a little time this afternoon scouting out discount shopping near home. Checked out Aldis and GFS. have to admit got a little more excited about the bulk frozen fruit and beans that I can get at GFS! Looks like I know where I'll be buying that stuff now! :-)

Thursday and Friday too busy to blog!

I have always had a busy schedule. One might say I don't even know how to NOT be busy! I sign up for committees, I attend meetings, I go to workout and music practices, I teach flute lessons, the list goes on and on! I used to joke in college that I needed an 8 day work week but then I would always realize and admit that knowing me, if I had an 8th day, I wouldn't use it for house work or relaxing, I would fill it with more activity!!

That being said, I have to sadly admit this was the first time I truly forgot to blog for 2 days! Thursday was so non stop that I came home around 830, did a quick workout and went immediately to bed. Never even sitting down after I came home from work.

Friday was similar, filling up my time with a bike workout with friends.

So I guess my thursday thankful thought would be that I am thankful that I enjoy being busy! I actually love the feeling of occasionally going non stop and falling into bed at night. I much prefer that to multiple snow days of laying around! (ok yes, I could have done some chores on the snow days... but lets not get too crazy!)

My thankful friday post will be thankful for the love of doing things with friends. Our bike workouts have become a friday night tradition now, and they are a blast!! We even added dinner to the mix this week!

Now off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday!