Killer Wasp and a Liebster Award!!!!

Hey friends,
Let me start off on a positive note, before I get to the dramatic, scary stuff!!

I am sooo excited to announce that I have been nominated for a Liebster Award by Mrs. Smith from heartmrssmith.blogspot.com! The Liebster award is given to recognize new blogs and welcome bloggers into the blogging community.

To accept this award I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted for me by my nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about myself

5. Create 11 questions for my nominees

6. Contact my nominees and let them know I nominated them

Questions for me to answer :)

1. Who is your hero and why?

I'm gonna get all mushy here and tell you that my friend, Jennifer, is my hero because on Monday she rushed me to the location where the ambulance was meeting us so that I didn't die from a severe allergic reaction to multiple wasp stings (and kept my one year old and three old alongside her two year old while I was in the hospital). More on that later...

2. What is your best management tool?

This will be my first year teaching firsties, but I have a feeling the Whole Brain Teaching method is going to work wonders in combination with the standard clip chart.

3. What is an activity you do during the first week of school?

Again, this will be my first first day with first graders, but I'm planning on using Abby Mullin's Jitter Juice activities. When I taught sixth grade we did lots of team building activites and games like you would use at a low ropes course. 

4. Do you play any musical instruments?

Ha! No. I wish. I am definately musically challenged. I cannot read music, carry a tune, or play an instrument, but I wish I could play the guitar. 

5. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

In sixth grade my favorite subject was reading. Sixth grade is the first year you can really read "junior high" novels like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, UGLIES and more popular young adult nonfiction. You can't touch that stuff in fifth grade due to the more mature nature of the content. But, kiddos who hated reading prior to sixth grade would get hooked on dystopian novels and go out and buy the rest of the series. They needed something a little more mature, or violent :-), to really be interested in reading I guess. And, those novels were awesome for teaching theme and character development, and were great for research based projects. 

6. Where would you take an all-expense paid vacation??

Have you ever been to RIU Palace in Cabo San Lucas??? You gotta go! But, if I had to choose a place I've never been before, I would love to take my family and all of my sisters' families to Hawaii. I'm still waiting to win the lottery.

7. What advice would you give a first year teacher?

1. Read edu-blogs! You will be sooo inspired, and you will learn so much and discover so many things you wish you would've thought of for yourself. 

2. I'm not sure about elementary school teachers, but many middle school and high school teachers maintain very elaborate websites with projects and other assignments that you can download and revamp for your classroom. Before I discovered edu-blogs, I would peruse other teachers websites looking for ideas.

3. Find a mentor, not necessarily the one that you are assigned, that doesn't mind answering all of your questions and helping you out. Priceless!

8. What are your favorite blogs to read?

My first favorites were The First Grade Parade and The Inspired Apple. Those were the first blogs I really followed. But, since I have started blogging myself I've ran across many younger blogs that are equally as awesome like Flying High in First Grade and For the Love of First Grade. 

9. What are you doing when you are not blogging/teaching?

These days I'm always at the pool, in the cul-de-sac, at my neighbor's house, or at the movies with my one year old and my three old. 

10. Favorite easy recipe to make :)

This is more of a tip than a recipe:

 I was trying to figure out how to add some flavor to frozen turkey burger patties when I mixed a packet of taco seasoning with a packet of powder ranch dressing mix.  Press both sides of the patty into it. Best turkey burger you'll ever eat! And, I bet it's pretty tasty on good ole hamburger patties too. 

11. When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?

This is going to sound awful, but I when I graduated from college I was young, single mother. All of the jobs I could find in my degree field took me far away from family and didn't fit inside daycare hours. So, I took a job teaching near my home town.  Fortunately, I was hooked right away and never pursued a job in radio or television.  I'm still teaching a decade later.

11 random facts about me:

1. I was college radio deejay and produced a televison show about haunted places in Texas.

2. I have a son entering 11th grade, a step-son entering 9th grade, and two little girlies in daycare! Just a little age gap :-)

3. My husband is a financial advisor. I feel certain I will have more money when I retire than I do now! My 16 year old already has his first IRA. 

4. I'm naturally a brunette, but I prefer to be a red head these days.

5. I'm addicted to Dr.  Pepper.  Love it. It's the devil. I need to stop. Like now. 

6. I love my new laminator. Do it! Buy one. 

7. My first grade teacher asked me if my name had one capital letter or two (since I'm named after my mother Sandra). I answered two and it has been spelled with a capital K and a capital S ever since. K-a-S-a-n-d-r-a

8. I have dreams of learning to ballroom dance - Latin style and of getting a dancer's body too!

9. I heart TpT and want to start creating and selling things as soon as I've actually taught first grade. Who is your favorite clip art & graphics designer???

10. I really like scrapbooking, but rarely find the time. So, I've made the switch to digital scrapbooking on Shutterfly.

11. I'm seriously allergic to wasps!!!!!

Questions for my nominees to answer:

1.  Who inspired you to start blogging?

2. What blogs should I add to my must-read list?

3. Shoes, purses, or accessories?

4. What has been your favorite grade to teach and why?

5. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?

6. Top three things on your bucket list?

7. What is something new you want to try next school year?

8. Children, pets, or both?

9. Movie star crush?

10. Favorite book of all time?

11. Favorite read-aloud story?

I am nominating the following blogs for a Liebster Award:

First Grade Magic
The Learning Chambers
Polka Dot Firsties
Sweet Tea & Second Grade
Monahan Monkey Madness
{Congratulations on your nomination!}

Now for the scary stuff. I'll try to keep it short. On Sunday my girlies and I made our way to Jellystone RV Park with my neighbor, Jennifer, and her daughter, Mady, for a 4-day stay in her gorgeous, brand new, 44 foot camper. We were having a grand time on the water slides, lazy river, pools, etc. 

Then, as we were leaving the pool on Monday afternoon, I felt a sting on the back of my left arm and then two more stings (I think) on the back of my left shoulder. I was carrying my one year old on my left hip and a pool bag on my right shoulder, so it was difficult to swat, scratch, or brush away whatever was there. I never saw an insect. Within 2-3 minutes, my palms were itching furiously. Then my scalp started itching. Within 10 minutes my face was hot, red, tingling, and starting to swell up. Jennifer agreed I should go to the hospital, so she went outside to load three carseats into the truck. Once on the road, she called 9-1-1 to inquire where the nearest ER was and requested an ambulance meet us because the nearest hospital was 20-30 minutes away in Cypress. Jellystone was in the Waller/Hempstead area. By the time we reached the ambulance I was covered head to toe in hives, plus a bright red rash, and my lips, cheeks, forehead, and eyes were severly swollen. I think we met up with the ambulance about 25 minutes or so after I was stung. The paramedics hooked me up with a bunch of wires, determined my blood pressure was low, injected me with a huge syringe of Benadryl, then something for nausea, and prepped the epinephrine. When my breathing became a little shallow I was given a breathing treatment. The female paramedic in charge was wonderful! She was very calm and explained everything she was doing to me and told me my only job was to relax and breath, and to let her know if I couldn't breath anymore!!! Fortunately, the Benedryl kicked in and my blood pressure starting rising before we made it to the hospital. Once we got me into a hospital bed, she told me it was a good thing that Jennifer requested an ambulance meet us, because if we had tried to make it on our own she didn't think the end result would be the same :-( At the hospital I received 3 or 4 meds in my IV and was released a couple of hours later. Jennifer, and her husband, Tim, graciously kept my girlies alongside their two year old while I was in the hospital. Tim, a police officer, got my husband from Atascocita to Cypress before the ambulance reached the hospital! My husband said he was hanging on for dear life and trying not to pee his pants while Tim was calmly cruising around 110 mph. That's it in a nutshell. I'm super grateful God has allowed me more time on this earth with my family and friends. (Oh, and I think it was a wasp because A) wasps can sting multiple times, and B) I had seen several wasps around the park.)

I don't want to leave you with that...so if you're purse person this will bring a smile to your face. The COACH at the Houston Premium Outlets near Hockley is having a 50% off sale. If you buy a purse from the clearance shelves (40% off) you get the 40% discount AND the 50% one. I got this leather purse, originally priced at $379, then $349 at the outlet for $97! 

Until next time,