Truthful Tuesday

To be honest... I'm so happy that Jelly is as excited about Christmas as I am.  That girl has watched Christmas movies with me everyday since Thanksgiving.  She shocked the heck out of me last night, when she stayed up until 10pm watching A Christmas Carol and then Polar Express.  Is she going to be tired and cranky today because of it?  Probably.  But, she can take a nap at school.

To be honest... I much more prefer counting down the days left of school rather than the weeks until Christmas.  There's only 17 school days left - counting today.  That sounds SO much nicer than saying there's four weeks until Christmas.  It almost sounds like half the time!

To be honest... My motivation level is running a little low.  It's so hard to get the kids to focus when I'm just as stir crazy as they are.  Fourth graders are fully aware about how much time there is between now and Christmas - and they know it's not very long.  They are already switched in to that mindset, and don't really care too much about multiplication, main idea, complex sentences, weather, or regions of the United States.  All they are interested in right now is what they are getting for Christmas.  I have to suck it up, though, and be strong.  Lead by example - right?

To be honest... As excited as I am about Christmas, I've already started thinking about the new year.  I've decided that I'm going to try again at losing some weight come January 1st.  I'm not going to get all drastic and change my blog again, but really just start making more conscious efforts to cut back on the eating, find some form of exercise, and see if I can't at least get back to the weight I was the last time I lost a bunch of weight.  At this point, I'd be ecstatic just to get back in to my size 16s.

To be honest... I've decided that I am going to make it a goal to crochet as many hats and head warmers I can between now and Christmas break so that I can donate them to kids.  Especially the kids in my school.  I was so shocked yesterday, when the temperature outside was barely in the 40s, at the amount of kids that were playing without any type of winter wear.  Most of the yarn I own was given to me by my mother-in-law, there's tons of it.  There's no reason I need to think about trying to sell stuff when there are so many kids that could use something as simple as a warm hat or head warmer.  At least.  So, that's my Christmas project.

To be honest... It felt really good yesterday to give a ear warmer to one of the teacher's aides at school.  Every morning she goes out for bus duty.  No matter what the weather.  She's also a wonderful help to me in my classroom, so I thought it would be nice to make her one.  The joy came to see how grateful she was for it.  It really is the little things like seeing the appreciation in a small gesture that melts my heart this time of year... and any time of year for that matter.

To be honest... I was shocked and overwhelmed at the amount of support I received over my blog post about my family the other day.  It was all that support, and a perfect timing phone call from Therapy Dude yesterday that made me realize I just don't need to worry about it.  Seriously, I haven't spoken to Therapy Dude in months, and he chose yesterday to call me.  He was calling to check in on Butter, but after I got to talking... I just couldn't stop.  His advice was very similar to the advice given by all of you:  Stop dwelling on it.  Enjoy what I have.  Realize that I'm not the parent in this situation, and that if my mother doesn't realize how much she hurt me - she probably never will.  He and all of you that sent me emails and messages are right.  It's not worth dwelling over.  I can either accept the relationship we do have and learn to live with it, or cut all ties.  That's never going to happen, so I guess just accepting the relationship I have is what I have to do. 

To be honest... I was really shocked yesterday morning when Peanut and Butter both made some comments about the recent lack of visits with my mom.  Both had seen stuff on Facebook about trips to the zoo and ice-skating from my sister, and thought about the same way I did.  It was really hard to talk to them and try and explain that we can't be involved with everything they do - despite having always been in the past.  It goes to show that my kids aren't as naive to the situation as I thought.  While I won't bash my mother or my other family members to my kids, I also won't make up lies to defend them either.  My kids will make their own decisions on the current events that have taken place.

To be honest... I really need to think about going to get ready for work.  If I focus, stay busy, and do the best job I can possibly do I'm convinced that the time between now and Christmas will fly by.  Just 17 more days of school!