3rd Grade Frustration

All year I have had some minor issues with things my younger daughters teacher has said and written. Let me start by saying that MJ is very smart, but she struggles especially with reading and writing. Up until this year math has always been her strong suit. She has got 60's and 70's on all her unit tests except this last math test which got a 95% on. She was super proud. But we are going to come back to that in a bit. On her first report card the comment section was a litany of all the things that MJ can not do. She can't add, she can't subtract, she doesn't focus (that one didn't surprise me actually), and on and on. BUT then we looked at her grades and they were all meeting expectations. Which really confused me. Because in my opinion if she can't even add and subtract how is she meeting expectations? We had a conference with the teacher and I asked she never explained it. Fast forward to this recent test and report card. I've always told my husband that I feel like some of her comments are a little harsher than necessary. So MJ finally gets a good grade on a unit test and instead of writing something encouraging on her test she writes "see what happens when you show your work?" Ok I get her point, but you know what would have made my kid feel good? A "way to go!" Or a "great job!" Or a "math wizard!" Like the other kids received. Even if it was in addition to the comment that she did get. And then there is the second report card where she is still below grade level on all her math facts (which she does fine with at home), but on of the classes she is still meeting expectations in was math. I don't get it. MJ says she's scared to say things in class. She says that the "smart kids can say the answers without raising their hand and they don't get in trouble" and that makes her feel inferior. And she has also said that she only treats a few kids nice "but everyone knows they're the smartest kids". I think part of the problem is that this is the first teacher we have encountered who still teaches in a talk to the class and expect them to retain it way. And part of the problem may be that MJs AIS was changed to in class only so she's not getting the individualized help she was getting. I'm just looking forward to the end of this year and hoping for better for her next year. I know MJ knows her stuff because she does great with her flash cards and she makes fabulous connections to what she reads. I told her to speak up more in class too do her teacher knows she knows her stuff, but she's scared.

holidays

I love the holidays, don't get me wrong, but at the same time they leave me feeling more lonely and depressed. We have tons of get togethers with family which should be enjoyable, but sometimes (especially with my family) I feel like everything I say is stupid and like I don't belong. And one of the worst feeling I have ever had is feeling alone while I am surrounded by people. But I got through it all and had a week off of work to spend with the littles. I got a lot done around the house which is nice. The girls enjoyed their new things from Santa (I love that my 10 year old still believes) and their new stuff from Mom and Dad too. Santa brought the family the entire Harry Potter series so we watched a lot of movies and played a lot of board games as a family. The girls got to go ice skating for the first time and had a blast. Also my friend and her son came over for a kids vs parents board game day. I've only got one more big family thing in a couple of weeks and that's it. That's all the cousins and their kids and all the older adults too so it's fun!

Fun with Legos

I love watching my 10 year old daughter play with Legos. She rarely makes what the kit says to. Or sometimes she will make what it says to once, but then she deconstructs it to build whatever she comes up with in her imagination. When she was 4 she build a space ship (complete with computer) out of some spare Legos my husband had. She has only branched out from there. My favorite is when she makes things that have a whole story to go with them. One time she built an airplane with people and one of them had the "scared face" on. I believe is was Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She told me she has that face because the ship was losing power and they had to jump. She has one shelf on her set of cub us that is dedicated to things she has built that she has not deconstructed to reuse parts.

Birthday Night Out

After being anxious to the point of an upset stomach the big day was here. My birthday night out with friends. We dropped the girls off at my moms after my friend Miki got here. She came from out of town and I was super excited to see her! We met some other friends for dinner. Then we picked up another friend and stopped by Target! I love Target. After that we came home to get ready and a third friend came by so she could ride in our van. We picked up a fourth friend (my husband was awesome to chauffeur us around) and headed to Lux. We hung out there for about an hour. I'm doing a no soda challenge so instead of my usual rum and coke I had a whisky sour. Yum! Then it was off to vertex to dance all night! I had a blast, everyone got along and I laughed so much! I got so many steps in! We went to Jays Diner for some food and finally got home at 4:30am. Good thing I didn't have to work! That's wake up time lol
And this is why I get frustrated with my anxiety. I was making myself physically ill with how anxious I was getting and it's always all for nothing.

Anxiety Sucks

You know what one of the worst things about anxiety is? It's the fact that no matter how much I'm looking forward to do something by the time it arrives I don't want to do it anymore. 

For example, this weekend is my birthday. A few months ago I made plans with a group of friends to go out to a club that I love. My husband is going to drive so no one has to worry about it. Two of the people are crashing it my place. One of them is from out of town and I am so excited to see her. I've been so excited for this. I even bought a new outfit. However, the closer to the date that I get the more knotted my stomach becomes. I feel like I fail at adulting and that my apartment is going to be judged. I'm worried because one of my friends can be judge (not one of the ones coming to my place) and vocal about it. I'm worried that I'm going to have a panic attack while I'm out. And that's just the tip of the anxiety iceberg I'm having today. I'm actually thinking a nice stomach bug could get me out of this whole thing and I can spend my birthday curled up in bed with ginger ale, crackers and books (and maybe even lose a few pounds!) and not worry about it. But then I worry about disappointing everyone. And....now I'm crying over that. I just can't win today. I'm sure I will enjoy myself, but at this moment I'm not.

thank goodness for bland danishes

I'm getting back on track (finally) after going on vacation and subsequently falling in the shower first thing the morning after we got back. Somehow my mind turned I hurt WAY to bad to exercise into "hey this would be a PERFECT time to eat terrible too" Cause, you know, that's perfectly logical. Thanks brain. Now I'm heavier than I've been in a while. I did lose 3.3lbs last week though. Thank you Jessica Smith and your ability to make me want to cry during a 20 minute workout. Yesterday a tray of Danishes came in compliments of a podiatry office. I couldn't resist. I tried a maybe cheese, maybe Apple, maybe custard danish which I though was cheese. It was so bland and tasteless that I'm not really sure what it was. And now 24 hours later I have been able to stay away from the tray. Why can't everything that isn't good for me taste bad no?

JewelBits box for October

I received my JewelBits box for the month of August. I switched my style from Boho Babe to Glam Gal. I received 2 necklaces and a bracelet this month.

I was really excited to get something silver since silver is what I wear the most of. However I am not a huge fan of where the necklace hits on my stomach. It's an area I prefer NOT to draw attention too lol

This is the other necklace and the bracelet. I love the bracelet, but the necklace is a little bulkier than what I usually wear. I plan in using it when I dress up for special events though. They are very pretty and very sparkly.

Overall JewelBits has been hit and miss for wether or not there are styles I like in the box. Generally there has been at least one piece in each box that I like.