Anxiety Release

Tonight's the last Sunday night in a VERY long string of Sunday nights that I will have to get up to go teach school in the morning. For some reason I am feeling a whole lot of anxiety. Part of it is due to the way my little darlings have been acting over the past month knowing summer freedom is inching closer and closer. I guess I'm terrified that it's all going to burst this week and none of the tricks in my bag of tried and true teacher techniques are going to work. I hope I've got enough lessons and activities planned to fill in the gaps between all the end of year activities that will be taking place. And then there's this strong longing I've got to make sure that this year counted for something important in the lives of my students. I had a very challenging class this year and so much of the time I worried about how their behavior or their progress or lack of it was reflecting on my success or progress as a teacher. I guess the thought that's haunting me tonight is that I'm realizing, IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT ME! If I could've realized that awhile ago, I think it would've been liberating. I just hope I didn't waste energy worrying about myself as a professional instead of putting it towards encouraging and helping my students. All in all, I'm pretty sure these kids know I love them. I daily pray about the goings on in my classroom and feel like I have been blessed in ways I wouldn't have if I hadn't asked for Heavenly Father's help. I truly have done the best I know how. So let's get a move on and send this year out the door!

$59 and a Really Wonderful Husband

Today Danilo and I ran and grabbed a bite to eat for lunch. As we were leaving the restaurant, I noticed that ShopKo across the street was having a huge garden sale. I'd been wanting to go pick up some gerber daisies to put in a pot on our front porch, and when I mentioned that to Danilo, he said we could go take a look. As we walked in and saw tables and tables of trays of flowers, I started to get a little gardening bug. Long story short, a couple of stops and $59 later, we'd picked up everything we needed for our first flower garden, which has to consist of hanging baskets and flower pots when you have cement instead of a garden plot. Danilo was wonderful and I kept telling him he was as he followed me through the aisles and the greenhouses. We didn't forget a thing among the 40 pound bag of soil, the Miracle Gro, and my very first own trowel and gardening gloves. I think he felt like I did the time I followed him around RC Willey to find the best entertainment system. While he worked on homework, I sat on our porch and threw our little garden together. Once I got it all cleaned up, he came out and said all the right things about how pretty it looked. I go out every half hour just to look at it again and get all tickled inside. I think it's because I planned on being inside all day long doing the house cleaning routine and instead it turned into a beautiful outdoor Saturday in May. I'm also especially feeling grateful for Danilo this weekend. I had a co-worker and friend unexpectedly lose her husband this past week and it has given me a fresh perspective on how fragile life is and how grateful I am every time I get to be with him.

It'll Be So Cool Babe: Part II

(If you haven't yet, see It'll Be So Cool Babe!)

DANILO: "So how much do you weigh these days?"

BRITTNEY: "I don't know, but you're sure looking fit!"

The Perfect Diet is no longer a joke. It was not merely a passing phase. Danilo dilligently goes to the gym five or six times a week, eats one helping at dinner, and keeps record of exactly how many cookies, bite-sized candy bars, single M&Ms etc. he's consumed each day. He's getting so stinkin' handsome (as if that had been an issue)! In the meantime his wife, whose torso is the current home of their unborn daughter, continues to see numbers on the scale that haven't ever appeared in that order before. Do we weigh the same? I'm not broadcasting that information online. :)