One of the easiest ways to trace members of your family tree is through census records. I've found not just information on the person I'm trying to trace, but more often than not, relatives lived right next to them so I was able to add them to my family tree as well. Today marks my... Continue Reading →
Summer Fun Reading List
One of my favorite things to do is read. I remember being a kid, sitting on my bed with books scattered everywhere, completely immersed in a good story. I read everything - Sweet Valley High, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Ramona Quimby, Superfudge, Stephen King books, Nemesis (my first Isaac Asimov book). These days, it's... Continue Reading →
Teacher Summer PD Resource
I just completed my first year of teaching high school English. During the year, I spent time planning, grading, lamenting, crying, drinking, and sleeping in various proportions depending on the time of year (does inadvertently becoming an amateur wine connoisseur count as teacher PD??). I had a lot of OMG moments - good ones, bad... Continue Reading →
The Many Shades of Student Loans
Many moons ago, I bought a house with my now ex-husband. By the end of that first year, our mortgage had hopped from one bank to another to another, like a hot potato. That was the world of financing – juggling money to make more money. Fast forward to today. I currently don’t have a... Continue Reading →
Hysterectomy Adventure
A few years ago I noticed some pain in my abdomen. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I typically ignore aches and pains these days. I’m 44. Random aches and pains have been part of my life for a while. But for whatever reason, I noticed these pains even though they had probably... Continue Reading →
Lesson Gone Wrong
For those of you who have worked with me before, you know one of the things I constantly do is reflect. Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently? What worked and gave me that giddy holy-crap-they're-really-getting-it feeling? What could be improved? What? What? What? I'm constantly asking myself these questions as... Continue Reading →
Spring Break
Today is my official first day of spring break. https://imgflip.com/i/jfkt9 I count it as the first day because it’s the first day where I’m supposed to be teaching and it’s very obvious that I’m not. Instead, I slept until 10. Drank my coffee at an unaccustomed slow pace. Ate my Cocoa Pebbles as... Continue Reading →
What the Twit??
The inauguration is over. The Trump voters have spoken while the rest of us continue to speak. Across America, citizens are marching for their voice and the voice of others – immigrants, the Black Lives Matter movement, women for women’s rights, planned parenthood, access to birth control. While I don’t condone the violence that’s erupted... Continue Reading →
2017 New Year’s Resolutions
I love the beginning of a new year. Everything’s new and fresh. You get a chance at another start. Plus, I like making lists so it's my chance to update my resolutions list. Here's an edited version of my 2016 resolutions with a little thought into how I'm going to update them for 2017: 1.... Continue Reading →
Labels
We all come with labels. People are authors, accountants, book nerds, adrenaline junkies, Moms, Dads, sisters. For a long time, my labels were simple: I was a wife and a mother. Those days are so long gone now that they are turning into fuzzy memories. I've been re-labeled over the past few years and now... Continue Reading →
My Mosaic Life 