Currently

I'm so terribly sorry little blog- I have ignored and abused thee. But here I am once more to report on the insanity that has been the past month or so.

Once again I bring you "Currently" with the Ottos

Eating- Since we are moving to MI for the summer we have ben eating anything and everything that is already in our tiny kitchen. This has led to some creative dinners. Black bean burgers (frozen) Veggie Mixes (Frozen) Assorted muffins (with Frozen berries) {I refuse to buy cereal is I can just keep making muffins...} Anyway, you get the idea. Frozen foods and canned goods to the rescue! Also we ate about a million cuppys and candies for Zoee Gail's birthday- heaven.

Loving-The fact that I have 5 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL. Heavens people, the first year really is madness and I'm more than happy to leave it in the past after this week. It's fabulous don't get me wrong, but also terrifying, draining, stretching, maddening and all around rough. I'm also loving that I get my baby puppy in 7 days!!

side note- we've decided to name him Oliver :) Ollie for short!

Feeling- Relieved- Ben has FINALLY taken the MCAT! and though we won't know what he got for another month- it's over!! Halleluja I'm so proud of that man! The family predicts a 44 in his future and a ridiculously expensive medical school......Also relieved that school is almost over and that the dreaded Shakespeare Festival has finally ended.
Also feeling like a terrible person because a student's parent had to teach me a hard learned lesson this week that probably merits it's own blog post because it's so embarrassing. Like I said, rough.
Lastly- feeling a win. A student that I taught during my student teaching sent me a kind email and a graduation announcement! He said that my class had been one of the best and most fun learning experiences in his life. I about cried.


Wanting-School to end..oh have I said that already? We are wanting a lovely 2-3 bedroom apartment that is pet friendly to open up in Provo so we will have somewhere to live next Fall. Because as of now we are those cutey homeless people you see on the side of the road with a dog and a sign that says "will work for a room!"Lovely. I've also been wanting to see my baby sisters again and my baby nephew! Gosh dang is he cute!

Enjoying- The weather! It has been nice and cool and stormy these past couple days. And then gorgeous and sunny! We've taken advantage and gone on walks, went rock climbing up the canyon and I have personally been enjoying popping a monster horse pill for my allergies every day! Ben has been enjoying his MCAT studying and working out everyday because that's ALL HE DOES folks. It's grand. I've been enjoying this marvelous show called "call the Midwife" on PBS and I'm completely obsessed. I may or may not be convinced that I should have lived in the 50's. Or the 30's for Downtown Abbey. I have a PBS/BBC problem.

adieu and bon ete!

Favorite student award

25 minutes after school gets out

Me: *watching Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet in my classroom, prepping for R&J*

Male Student 1: (barges into the classroom) Hey Mrs. Otto!

Male student 2: (right on his heels) What's up Mrs. Otto?

(both students sit in desks near mine)

Me: Hey guys, what can I do for you?

Student 1: We just wanted to talk about the play!

Student 2: Yeah, yeah! We just wanted to chat about Romeo and Juliet, that was a great performance today!

Me: yeahhhh.......

Random Kid in doorway: Hey, 'sup

Me: uhhhh

Student 1: oh, that's my brother. We were just coming to say hi.

Random Kid "brother": Yeah right you liars, you just wanted to show me the hottest teacher in the school! Come on we gotta go!

Students 1 &2 : (heads hung in embarrassment, moseying out of the room) 'slater Mrs. Otto.

Me: ....bye guys.....


yep, made my day.

Caesar dressing- stories of wonderment

When I was 15 I learned how to make the most divine salad dressing known to mankind by Miss Jennifer Smith In Green Bay Wisconsin.

Then I forgot it.....

When I finally entered the real world as an adult I remembered said dressing and how heavenly it made those nasty little rabbit foods tastet. I HAD to have it.

Naturally I turned to my mother, the knower of all things food.

She has taken said recipe and written it out into real life measurements, but to be honest, these women just throw things together and out pops glory, so experiment!

Ingredients for Croutons
- Everything bagels (I usually tear up 2 or 3 depending on how bready I feel)
- a little olive oil to drizzle over
- some garlic salt to sprinkle on top

obviously I have yet to create an exact science, get creative people! Drizzle olive oil over torn pieces of bagel in a saute pan until a little brown, then bake in the over at 325 F for ten minutes. Ta-da!

Dressing
- 1 Cup olive Oil
-4 cloves garlic (pressed in the oil, let it sit for a bit)
-1 tbs mayo
-2 tbs brown mustard
-2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
--Juice from 1- 1.5 lemons (depends how tart you like it!)
-a little salt

Wisk together until blended

Pour over fresh, crisp, green lettuce with the croutons and a little fresh parmesan cheese and you'll never be happier! Oh wait, add a little chicken to that and THAT will be the happiest you've ever been.

For the love of parents

Today a parent came in to chat with me after school...

mind you- I've had both great (we love you!) and hideous (it's your fault he's getting an F!) experiences with this so I was a little nervous.

She was a parent I'd never met before and turns out I have two of her kids, one in 7th and one in 9th.

The 7th grader is a pretty normal boy, just chill and a great student but I've never had trouble with him.

The 9th grade girl is a different story. She's your classic, closet creator.

The kind that shows her personality to no one but her journal,
has very few if any friends at school
and rarely, if ever, speaks.

She is absolutely vibrant on paper, beautiful, poignant thoughts and an attitude! She has very specific opinions and will not be swayed by classmates. But she also won't talk to them about it either-she just is the way she is. She LOVES the Twilight series, and is an avid reader as far as I could tell.

Her mother comes in, we talk about the boy, then she says "but really I want to talk about *girl*"

She procedes to tell me how much of a difference I've made in her daughter's life. That I've fueled her (very recent) budding love of reading. I've encouraged her in her writing and built her confidence. And that she loves me as a teacher, and my class is one of the only reasons she likes to come to school.

Teary eyed and sniffling, she said that I had made a difference.

{after a week of parents questioning my book choices, finalizing term grades, screaming/anxious kids ready for spring break, whiny teachers,  and a myriad of sundry issues, I realized this,}

It's all worth it. Every five weeks of torture is worth 5 minutes of a parent telling you that you are loved by their kid.

Maybe I do love this job after all.

Da Boinjamin

here's the deal

Benjamin is...

• in a million difficult classes including some version of 
• chemistry, 
• physics, 
• physiology, 
• and some other sumthin sumthin this term plus two labs
• studying for the MCAT in ALL his extra time- including but not limited to, in the car, on his walk to school, and whenever he looks at the bathroom mirror (he's written some nice equations there for me to learn whilst applying makeup...)
• taking a killer MCAT class two days a week three hours each in Orem
• attempting to stay fit by going swimming at 6 am, or
• to the gym in the evenings

...but he was late to MCAT class tonight because he dreaded the thought of me coming home to dirty dishes.

I've married an angel. 

Teaching is hard

Can I just tell you that my job is hard?
Not always in the--demanding, busy, hectic--way, but in other ways.

1. Emotional toll- last night i worried and fretted all evening about one of my students who is feeling depressed and having some emotional crapola going on. It seriously knotted up my guts! I feel like these kids are mine! My life! Heaven knows I can't stand them some days, but I'm really going to miss their crazy ideas, dreams, stories and laughs after school ends.

2. The loudness- I've never heard so much noise in my entire life....and I've been to several concerts and not been able to hear the next day. Maybe it's the shrillness of their tiny voices....?

3. The energy zap- I'm completely devoid of all energy when the day is done. Even (almost especially) on the days when the kids mostly conduct their own class, or work days. I just feel like I got hit by a bus, then flipped over it, fell off the back and landed on another friendly vehicle. I end up looking like this...

All this is fine and dandy but in the end, I do love my kids, I love being here every day and being a part of their lives. I love laughing with them (they think I'm funny!) and crying with them. I love their hairbrained ideas that lead to amazing projects, and I love their humanness.

Adults get less and less human, and less and less honest. Kids are always honest. It's safe to say I fit better here than in the real world. I'll just have to get over the hard stuff.

Bedsprings

Sometimes, during that time of the month, I cry. Alot.

Usually it's at a sweet commercial, a tender email, or a touching rap song.....

But sometimes it's because my husband wants to sell our bed springs that make our bed 4 1/2 feet tall 

You don't understand! That bed is my cloud of heavenly goodness! I can lay there and see NOTHING! It's like a floating pool of softness where no students, friends, family, or other "life" things are allowed. That is where I sit and chat with Ben when he comes home and he gives me giant monster hugs and I can actually reach him! It is my piece of heaven and I was consequently devastated that the bedsprings were leaving.

Ben took them off so I could see how it felt.

I laid there, rolled around, blew my nose a bit.

Made him put them back on.

Then I cried, for an hour, over bedsprings.

I was forced to text the girl who bought them that I was too emotionally attached to my bed springs to let them leave my sight.

So thank you PMS- You saved my bedsprings. All is right with the world.