#6 on my Maine List

It's very unlikely, I would imagine, in most cases that someone would be as excited as I was to spend another day at an old job. Yesterday I volunteered in the library at Center Drive School and got to see all students and staff that I hadn't seen since I left at the end of March. A lot of the adults knew I was coming, but it was so entertaining to see the students' reactions when I arrived yesterday morning. First, a blank stare of confusion, then recognition, and finally hugging. I was even "allowed" to do the read alouds with the library classes and scan some books into the system while I was there. It was wonderful to see everyone and made for an awesome day. Center Drive School will always be in my heart.

#2 on the List

Last night we flew into Portland and got to Hampden around 8. We hadn't eaten since lunch and wanted to eat somewhere quick and close to home. Dysart's was the easy choice and I was able to cross #2 of the list of things to do while in Maine. 

My healthy eating had to be put on hold for a curly fry Poutine. (But don't worry, I didn't eat the whole thing by myself.)

It was the perfect "Welcome Home to Maine" meal. :) Now, back to yard work. 

10 Things I Learned Today 5/29

It's always fun going to a school for the first time - all new kids, staff, and schedules.  Today I was an educational assistant at the elementary school in Iron Mountain. Lots of recess duties = lots of conversations with lots of different kids. This school was grades EK - 3 and they all believe that at the top of the hill behind their school is a giant snake hole. The reason the playground is fenced off is to keep the snakes out. Obviously. Also, after third grade gym class, the boys all clamored to one water fountain while the girls filed behind the other. Not because it's an actual rule or even directions from the gym teacher, but because they are nine and the opposite gender is disgusting. 

1. Irony is wearing a "Happy Camper" t-shirt while throwing a temper tantrum. 

2. Common footwear are not called "sneakers", but tennis shoes. 

3. All you need to do is gesture toward the door when approached by an 8-year old pinching a scrambling wood tick. It's so common that they'll go straight to the bathroom, flush it, and come back to recess like nothing happened. This happened eight times today. 

4. Nachos are an appropriate main course for school lunch. 

5. The playground is fenced off specifically to keep snakes out.

6. There is such a thing as girls' and boys' water fountains.

7. Early kindergarten is the same thing as Pre-K. 

8. In May, you leave the house in the morning when it's 40 degrees and drive home when it's 85 degrees.

9. You cannot effectively backtrack your route to work when a one way road is involved.

10. Whichever way you want to turn at a four-way intersection during road construction will be the last line of traffic the sign holder allows by.

To Do List: Maine Edition

In a couple weeks, I'll be heading back to Maine to visit for the first time since leaving for the U.P. almost two months ago.  My little sissy is graduating from high school! Other than seeing family and friends, I have been compiling a list of things I want to see, do, and eat while I'm there that can only be done in Maine. Now I'm starving. Poutine anyone?

1. Get the FOTW at Gifford's 
   
2. Have a poutine at Dysart's 
   
3. See the Atlantic Ocean
   
4. Learn to drive stick
   
5. Order spicy tuna rolls and fried oreos from Yoshi in Brewer
   
6. Visit Center Drive School in Orrington
   
7. Go to Acadia National Park
   
8. Do the scenic overlook off of I-95 to see Katahdin
   
9. Drive up to camp on Second Lake, Wallagrass
   
10. Get peanut butter soft serve from Al's
    
     

Miss Waddle Reporting for Duty! 5/13

I love kindergarten. How I am able to enjoy sixth grade and kindergarten at the same time is beyond me, but I love that being a substitute gives the opportunity to experience EVERYTHING. For example, last week I was in first grade, fifth grade science for two days, sixth grade science, and second grade. This week, I am in kindergarten, Title One, sixth grade social studies, and second grade special education.  It's given me the assurance that I am capable of teaching students outside of my (now nonexistent) comfort zone. I am having an absolute blast.

This morning, the students were doing some inventive writing in their journals. They were to finish the prompt: 

I like...swimming.

I like...the sunshine.

But I LOVE...my dog Jack.

With inventive spelling, you always run the risk of unfortunate (but entertaining) misspellings. Some were too good not to share and some were just so cute. 

I like oranges. I like computers. But I LOVE mom.

I like the sun. I like my mom and my dad. But I LOVE peaches.

I like my sisters and my dog. I like my mom and my dad. But I LOVE them too.

I like the sun. I like the lake.  But I LOVE the sky.

I like to go to the YMCA.  I like ladybugs. But I LOVE to go swimming.

I like my mom. I like my dad too. But I LOVE my family.

I like the sun and I like that it tans me. But I LOVE the moon.

I like my mom. I like my dad. But I LOVE my cat.

I like to cannonball. I like to swim. But I LOVE the pool.

I like my mom. I like my dad. But I LOVE my family.

I like to play with Legos. I like Star Wars. But I LOVE The Clone Wars.

I like TV. I like Mama's phone. But I LOVE computer.

I like ice cream. I like sun.  But I LOVE my bearded dragon.

I like free time. I like school. But I LOVE school because of Miss.

I like gym. I like pancakes. But I LOVE my dog Missy.

Today, no matter how many times I corrected them, I was Miss Waddle. It makes me miss the kindergartners at Center Drive that called me Mrs. Fallette. I really should just introduce myself as Miss O. to the younger grades, but in all honesty, the creative mispronunciations of my name are too much fun.

Mothers' Day in Second Grade

Today I subbed in second grade and in honor of Mothers' Day on Sunday, the kids were making books to bring home. Each page had a different sentence starter and a space for them to include illustrations. Since I never asked if I could take pictures in school, I don't have photos of the kids' work, but some of them were pretty good. Happy Mothers' Day! 

My mom is the best because - 

- she makes cupcakes.

- she "snoogles" me.

- she lets me get my ears pierced.

- she picks me up so I don't ride the bus.

My mom makes me laugh when -

- she steps in dog poop.

- she gets pulled over by the cops.

- she falls in the trash can. (There has got to be a story there.)

- she wakes up.

My mom is the prettiest when -

- she goes on a date with my dad.

- she wears makeup.

- she is at church.

- all the time. (Smart kid.)

My mom shows me she loves me when -

- she cooks me food.

- she lets me have dessert.

- she doesn't make me go to school.

- we have lemonade and Popsicles.

Weekend in the Dells!

We spent this weekend at the Wisconsin Dells to celebrate Jesse's birthday. Within 20 minutes of arriving I realized that my camera battery was oh so dead so I did not take nearly as many pictures as I was hoping to. On the bright side, this place was so awesome that we will definitely be going back again with a fully charged camera in tow.

 I did get some great pictures from the zoo, though. There was this adorable little fisher that was hamming it up for us. 

On our way out of the zoo, we stopped back in time for his dinner and got to chat with one of the workers. Apparently he is the only person the little guy won't attack. The man was actually picking him up and rubbing his belly. He even played a little game similar to this kitten: http://youtu.be/0Bmhjf0rKe8 We also made some friends with a couple giraffes and some kangaroos.

We also took an Original Wisconsin Duck tour along (and down) the Wisconsin River. A "duck" is a vehicle that drives on land and in the water. What was extra cool was that they allowed pets to come so Jack was able to experience the ride as well. 

                      

                                   

It was a great weekend away and we will definitely be back soon. :)

First Day at Woodland Elementary

If anyone has been on Facebook, you've seen my most recent status:

Today was my first day of subbing in Michigan and I was assigned to be a half-day "floater" to fill in for teachers in meetings.  I started off my day in Kindergarten (24 of them!!) and had an absolute blast. I was impressed by how attentive they were and was sad I had to leave after an hour to go to fifth grade.  

...Which surprisingly turned out to be excellent.  I had never subbed higher than fourth grade (well, with the exception being high school) and was a little nervous. They were working on learning about the end of the Revolutionary War and how it led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  In Paul Revere style, we read by lantern light and then I shared the poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I was able to make the connection that he was a Maine poet and that I am from Maine, which they thought (or at least pretended) was pretty cool.  

Their teacher arrived early, so I had about fifteen minutes before I needed to be in second grade. In teacher-style, I took the opportunity for the bathroom break.  It was a single stall women's bathroom in the fifth grade wing so it seemed safe for staff use.  I grabbed my things and entered, locking the door behind me. After washing my hands, I went to exit the bathroom. Uh uh. The lock wouldn't budge. At that point, I couldn't remember which way I had turned the lock in the first place. I kept trying every which way and jiggling the lock, feeling like the hugest idiot in the world.   I'm not claustrophobic, but I was starting to sweat and panic a little. After about five minutes of struggling, I came to the conclusion that I could not help myself and would need to have someone unlock it from the outside. Thankfully I had all of my things with me so I was able to call the office and have the most awkward conversation that went a little something like, "Hi, this is really strange, but this is Alyssa and I'm subbing today.  I somehow locked myself in the single stall bathroom near the fifth grade classrooms and I can't get out."

When I was eventually rescued, all of the fifth grade teachers were standing outside to make sure I was okay. Apparently this kind of this happens a lot.  You need to pull up and towards you on the knob for the lock to unstick. They were planning on printing off directions of how to exit, but hadn't gotten to it yet.  Moral of the story, when in a new place, just hold it.

Update! 4/29

Recertification finalized (finally!) and my first substitute teaching gig in Michigan is tomorrow at the elementary school in Kingsford. So excited! All this free time is making me go a little crazy.

The last week we've been running with Jack at the Fumee Lake Natural Area in Norway, Michigan.  

It's about 15 minutes away from our house.  There are miles and miles of trails that circle Little Fumee Lake, Big Fumee Lake, and a mountainous area nearby.  

Jack has been enjoying the freedom of being back in the woods - and swimming every chance he gets. 

The water is absolutely freezing (the lakes are still mostly frozen) but we almost have to drag him away when it's time to go. He was still pretty little at the end of last summer and would only swim to go after a tennis ball.   It's nice to see him just dive right in and swim around without any coaxing. 

This weekend we are going to the Wisconsin Dells - the Waterpark Capital of the World! The town is about four hours away and has over sixty water parks, amusement parks, and attractions. So far the weather is looking like it will be nice for us, but the BEST part is that there are indoor water and theme parks just in case! For example, the Mt. Olympus Indoor Water Park has a water slide that is ten stories tall. The building that houses Kalahari Indoor Theme Park is over 100,000 square feet and contains a full-size Ferris wheel that is six stories tall! It also has laser tag, go karts, and ziplining.  There will definitely be pictures to come. :)

Video Issues

Apparently YouTube videos do not show up on the mobile version of my blog (accessed via phone or tablet). I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about this because I'm sure it has to do with the fact that most devices do not support Flash Player.  So, if you follow me via iPad or mobile phone, you've probably seen a few blank spaces where a video should be!

Gabbie and Alice from Waterville, ME on Ellen

This is so heartwarming! What generous and well-spoken second graders! Read more about their story here.

First Pasty! 4/16

Today was the day where I experienced my first pasty.  I brought Jack for another visit with the lovely owners of Shear Happiness (the kennel that will be his home away from home while Jesse are away this weekend) and met up with Jesse for lunch at The Pasty Oven in Quinnesec.  There are a few different ways to have a pasty here: Traditional (ground pork/beef, potatoes, and onions), Traditional with rutabaga, Chicken and Cheese, Veggie and Cheese, and Spinach and Cheese. They also carry pizza pastys. We figured it only made sense to start out with the traditional.

It had the flaky crust of a pot pie and the yummy filling similar to a French Canadian Tourtière (meat pie). I was surprised that the potatoes were not mashed and minced in with the ground meat like in Tourtière, but in fairly good sized chunks. I started off eating mine with a fork (what a Princess) but quickly remembered (after some strange glances from Jesse) that this was a food meant to be eaten with your hands. So as to not disrespect the coal miners, I grabbed mine with two hands and dug in. 

You can order pastys from The Pasty Oven on their website!!

Getting on Track Tuesday 4/15

Today is Day Nine of the journey to a healthier lifestyle.  Woo! It seems like every time I start a new diet or workout plan I can hardly get past Day Two, let alone an entire week. Pretty impressed with myself thus far.
It all started when Jesse's company adopted the Virgin Pulse program put on by Virgin Mobile to encourage employees to be more healthy and active.  Using a pedometer, he has been tracking his day-to-day steps along with tracking "active minutes" when he is running.  There are also challenges he can accept or challenge other coworkers to do. For example, he's been doing a push-up challenge to do a minimum of ten push-ups everyday.  Nothing back breaking, just little things to encourage physical activity and overall health.  In doing so, he is earning points according to the amount of activity/steps and challenges completed. In addition to all this, he started using "My Fitness Pal", a FREE app and website that tracks your caloric intake and burn off from exercise.

After a few days of Jesse doing this on his own, I decided I would try it out just using "My Fitness Pal".  Never in my life have I counted calories, even when I was "dieting". It's so easy to use.  When you set it up, you select if you are looking to gain weight, lose weight, or maintain your weight. I selected lose weight and then it asked about my activity level, height, weight, my goal weight, etc.  It then sets you up with a goal daily caloric intake.  Using the diary, you input what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  The app even has a barcode scanner so you can make sure the calories perfectly coincide with what you ate, or you can search their database if you are eating a food without a label. You can even save your own recipes or meals if it's something you eat frequently to save time. You also input the cardiovascular or strength workouts to "add back calories".

It is the perfect amount of accountability that I needed to get started on the right foot.  It made me realize areas of a "healthy meal" that really aren't as low calorie as you would think. It has encouraged me to be a Nutrition Facts label checker in the grocery store and find low calorie alternatives of the same foods.  So far, I have lost 6 pounds. That's 6 pounds in 9 days! Just eating better, less, and exercising for at least 30 minutes a day. Also, I feel full. I'm not starving myself or working myself to the bone. It feels good.

Last week, we bought a smoothie maker and have been having fun experimenting with different ingredients like various fruit, berries, and juices, almond milk, veggies, flax seeds, nuts, etc. Smoothies are breakfast and can be anywhere from 150-400 calories depending on the ingredients. Instead of yogurt, we have been using Light Vanilla Silk Almond milk because we prefer a thinner smoothie and it is much lower in calories. (And still so good!)

Today, I got a little adventurous and tried some spinach.  My smoothie was:
1/2 cup frozen blackberries
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup baby spinach

We have the Cuisinart CPB-300 SmartPower 15-Piece Compact Portable Blending/Chopping System and I highly recommend it! (Got it off Amazon.) It completely liquefied the spinach much better than the Magic Bullet. Best part, I couldn't even taste the spinach.  It's just the beginning of a wonderful, healthy relationship.

Before & after!

Wordy Wednesday 4/9

My top ten things that make the Upper Peninsula unique:

1. Residents of the U.P. are referred to as "Yoopers" and they have a pretty cool accent, eh?

2. Their police cars look like oversized toy cars. The light on top looks like the one below on all of the ones I've seen in this area - state and local.

Michigan State Police

3. There are separate lanes (usually separated from the road by a strip of grass or a guard rail) for bicycles and pedestrians on most main roads. 

4. The Michigan State Forest system covers over 3.8 million acres.  There are over 20 in the Upper Peninsula alone.  

The State Forest Land is colored in green

5. I STILL HAVEN'T HAD A PASTY, but they're kind of a thing here. (Pronounced: PAST-ee) From what I hear, they are essentially a meat pastry that became a popular staple among miners because of their convenience. There are six places in our town alone that specialize in pasties. 

Pasty from Dobber's Pasties in Iron Mountain

6. Only four of the 15 counties in the Upper Peninsula are on Central Time.  These counties (Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson - where we are, and Menominee) are those that border Wisconsin.

7. This area originally became populous because of the mining opportunities. The Chapin Mine closed in 1932, but from its discovery in 1880 to its closing, 27,506,868 tons of iron ore were produced. The ground in this area has a reddish color due to the iron. 

8. The mascot for all the schools in Kingsford is the "Flivver".  A Flivver is another word for an old car that doesn't ride smoothly - most often referring to a Model T Ford. 

Flivver Field, Kingsford High's football stadium

Kingford's mascot in their colors, blue and maize

9. The snowfall record in the Upper Peninsula is 355.9 inches....almost 30 feet! This winter, the record was only 186.25 inches, which is still over 15 feet.  The snowfall record in Caribou, Maine is 197 inches during the winter of 2007-2008. This year, Caribou had about 100 inches of snow.

10.  "The Big Ten" is a big deal in this area. There is even a sports bar in Quinnesec called The Big Ten. The Big Ten is the area's college sports conference that includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Much to my dismay (and yours too if you counted correctly) there are actually TWELVE schools affiliated with the Big Ten and has been this way since 2011.