Thursday, July 28, 2011

10 things I learned on Facebook!


1.  It's not a wise idea to post when you are hurt/angry, even if you have the right to your feelings.  You will AWLAYS end up looking immature and anything but classy. (Yes, I made that mistake and learned from it.  Save some time/pain and learn from my mistake)

2. "Holding a grudge is like letting someone you don't like live rent free in your head/heart." (Such a wise, wise person posted that as a status.)

3.  Amy Winehouse died.

4. The Search bar and the status bar are way too close together--I once posted a status with a name of someone I was planning to FB-stalk.  Hopefully no one saw :).

5. Passive-aggressive posts are always taken personally, and usually by the wrong person.  If it's someone I am at least semi-close to, I do wonder for a minute if I should be worried that it's directed towards me.

6. Instagram is an AWESOMELY easy photo-edit app. (Thank you, Lauren Gibson)

7."If you can't tone it, tan it." (I don't recall who posted this but I LOVE it!)

8. Be careful when choosing to unfriend someone.  If you realize you acted in haste/anger, it's hard to explain what happened when you re-friend them (or may make it impossible to do).  When in doubt, put them on limited profile so they can't see/post anything.  If you make amends, it's easiest to rectify the situation when all you have to do is remove them from the limited view.

9. That there were going to be a lot of consecutive ice-days in a row! (Every afternoon I watched for the firs person to announce our school district was closed the next day)

10. And my fave: "'Let's eat Grandma!' vs. 'Let's eat, Grandma!'  Punctuation saves lives!" (Pretty sure this is from Julie Mullins Penisten)

XOXO,

Thursday, July 14, 2011

L-J's Review of Building Trust, How to Get It! How to Keep It! by Hyler Bracey, Ph.D.


This book is PHENOMENAL!  As a new team leader this year, I want to make sure that I can help establish a trusting environment for my team and this book lays out how exactly to do it.  Bracey knows what he's talking about because he first did all the wrong things before discovering the right way.

One of my favorite parts was when he dealt with giving feedback.  After walking through the process of giving feedback in a way that would strengthen trust, he then walks you through guiding someone who hasn't been trained in his methods to give you feedback in an appropriate way.  While it probably should be obvious that you can't assume everyone has read the same book or received the same training, I appreciated that he acknowledged how to deal with a situation that could easily worsen trust between people if neither person is properly prepared.


As I read, there were so many "Aha!" moments that I know will stay with me.  I know now what my role is and while I won't give away his process, I will say that it should be no shock that walking the walk is really the only way to go about it.  I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone in any situation looking to build trust.  Bracey truly gives you the tools necessary to do it, even if trust has been broken.

XOXO,

L-J's Review of Teach With Your Strengths by Rosanne Liesveld and Jo Ann Miller with Jennifer Robison

This book is a valuable tool for learning what your top 5 strengths are.  The main idea is to focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.  When you purchase the book, you gain access to a one-time-use code to complete the strengths-finder poll online.  The poll asks you a series of questions that you only have 20 seconds to respond to your placement on a continuum.  By setting a time limit, the creators make it impossible to over-think a response--thus ensuring that you go with your first instinct.

So what did I learn about me?  I am the following:



Your Signature Themes
Many years of research conducted by The Gallup Organization suggest that the most effective people are those who understand their strengths and behaviors. These people are best able to develop strategies to meet and exceed the demands of their daily lives, their careers, and their families.A review of the knowledge and skills you have acquired can provide a basic sense of your abilities, but an awareness and understanding of your natural talents will provide true insight into the core reasons behind your consistent successes.  Your Signature Themes report presents your five most dominant themes of talent, in the rank order revealed by your responses to StrengthsFinder. Of the 34 themes measured, these are your "top five."Your Signature Themes are very important in maximizing the talents that lead to your successes. By focusing on your Signature Themes, separately and in combination, you can identify your talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy personal and career success through consistent, near-perfect performance.
Input  You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information—words, facts, books, and quotations—or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.
Intellection  You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.
Learner  You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered—this is the process that entices you. Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences—yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”
Achiever  Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving.
Positivity  You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. Some call you lighthearted. Others just wish that their glass were as full as yours seems to be. But either way, people want to be around you. Their world looks better around you because your enthusiasm is contagious. Lacking your energy and optimism, some find their world drab with repetition or, worse, heavy with pressure. You seem to find a way to lighten their spirit. You inject drama into every project. You celebrate every achievement. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Some cynics may reject your energy, but you are rarely dragged down. Your Positivity won’t allow it. Somehow you can’t quite escape your conviction that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one must never lose one’s sense of humor.

After learning about myself (there is much more detail in the actual book), I read through every strength to learn how others tick.  It gives insight into how different each person is and how we all bring a variety of strengths to the table.  I found it VERY interesting, that some strengths did not make sense in my brain at all.  Perhaps these are areas in which I am a bit weak.

Overall, I highly recommend this book/survey for educators.  When you know your strengths, you can utilize them better.  Not to mention the fact that it gives you better self-awareness and self-confidence.  I am seriously considering purchasing this for my teacher relatives.  So teacher relatives, if you already have it, you might want to let me know so I don't waste money :).

XOXO,

Sunday, July 10, 2011

L-J's Review of Dune Road by Jane Green

Having recently read another Jane Green novel that I LOVED, Jemima J, I had high hopes for a fun, flirty chick-lit experience.  That is NOT the case with Dune Road.  I was quite impressed with myself!  I had a particularly hard time getting into the story and then once I finally got into it, it wrapped up fairly quickly.  If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be "twisted."  This story is twisted though not impossible to figure out--I am usually oblivious to where plots are headed but I did figure out one major twist about 50 pages before it was revealed.  I enjoyed the book for what it was, though it's not one that will stand out in my mind for long and unfortunately, it's not one I recommend unless you get it for free.  I paid $12.99 :(.

XOXO,

Thursday, July 7, 2011

L-J's Review of This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett

As I've mentioned on multiple occasions, I LOVE celebrity memoirs and after reading This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection, I am eager to read more from older Hollywood Royalty.  Carol Burnett, known for her comedic timing, delivers in every chapter of this memoir.  Her style is short and to the point, giving the necessary information to setup an anecdote while not overwhelming the reader with unnecessary details.  In fact, anecdotal is the best word to describe her tale.  Each chapter is extremely short and immensely entertaining.  She had me laughing out loud incessantly, making the story impossible to put down.  I began the book at about 7pm last night and with constant interruptions (including 10 hours of sleep), I finished at 12:30pm today.

I highly recommend this memoir.  It is definitely one of my favorites.

XOXO,

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Battle of the Bed update

This is what we envision... Kailee in her bed ALL night!
Last night we began as we did during yesterday's nap and then proceeded to cry-it-out.  After 10 minutes, Kailee made herself throw-up so we decided to hold off on bedtime until Gavin went to bed.  Gavin was actually asleep (at about 9:30) when I tried cry-it-out again.  I put Kailee in bed, turned off the lights, shut the door, she screamed for 30 seconds and then... PEACE!

Of course the peace lasted until about midnight when she woke up screaming bloody murder and ended up in our bed...

Nap time today went smoothly.  I put her in her bed, shut the door, she screamed for 30 seconds, and then slept for almost 2 hours.  We are back on track!

After a few more days/nights of success at falling asleep, we will move on to tackling the middle of the night wakings.  I have fought Brady on these since day one--while I refused to go soothe her (knowing she'd go back to sleep in less than 5 minutes), he'd go in faithfully multiple times a night.  

We'll be all set just in time to head on vacation where normalcy is impossible.  Oh well!  We'll cross that road when we get there!

XOXO,

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Battle of the Bed - Nap Time Edition

After the immense failure of cry-it-out the other night and a holiday weekend--which was no time to sleep train--I decided to work on fixing Kailee's nap time issues.  Her nap time issues began after she decided she could no longer sleep in her bed at night.  As a summertime stay-at-home mom, I was about to go INSANE without at least a short break from Kailee during nap time.  I felt like I NEVER got away from her because she wouldn't nap and insisted on sleeping with us.  That meant Kailee 24/7!

My little monkey continued to boycott her bed
by napping in her chair
Today, I started by getting her situated in her bed with her blankies and reading her favorite book Sometimes I like to Curl up in a Ball.  As I began reading, she started saying, "TV on!  TV on!" and when we got to the last page, she started crying, realizing I was about to leave and shut the door.  However, I changed my tactic today.  I left the door open, knowing full and well that she'd come out.  I set a timer for 10 minutes and every time she walked out, I walked her back to bed.  There were a few times that she stopped crying and considered staying in bed without protesting, but at the end of the 10 minutes, she was hysterical.  I sat her down and told her that I wanted to leave the door open but because she would not stay in her bed, I had to close the door.  The crying worsened when I shut the door.  Then 30 seconds later, it stopped.

At the 10-minute-post-door-shut mark, Kailee stopped the occasional fussing.  She slept for 1 hour 15 minutes.  SUCCESS!

XOXO,

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Kailee LOVES to sing along to songs she knows.  Today, she picked up a dolly that plays music and proceeded to sing along with it over and over again:


XOXO,

Monday, July 4, 2011

L-J's Review of Princess Sultana's Circle by Jean Sasson

The conclusion of the trilogy includes more outrageously horrifying moments but also unexpected hope.  Princess Sultana's risky move to share her story at least brings awareness to the true situation for Saudi Arabian women.  Before reading this trilogy, I was living in ignorant bliss.  Though I had read the fictional account of life in Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns, it makes the reality more appalling when you know it's a true account--as is the case with the Princess Trilogy.

On our nation's birthday this year, I am even more grateful that I was blessed to be born in The United States of America.


XOXO,

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Mmmm Delicious! Waffles a la Mommy


Ingredients:
-waffles
-butter/margarine
-candied pecans

Directions
1. Toast the waffles to your preferred crispiness.
2. Slather with butter/margarine.
3. Top with candied pecans.
4. Enjoy!

XOXO,

Friday, July 1, 2011

L-J's review of Princess Sultana's Daughters by Jean Sasson

Princess Sultana's story continues in the second installment of the Princess Trilogy.  We learn more horrors of life for women in Saudi Arabia and how her children are impacted by such a forward-thinking, strong-willed mother.  Princess Sultana's Daughters is as powerful as Princess: A true Story of Life behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia.  It is as difficult to put down as the first.

Reading these books make me even more grateful to live in a country where women have the same rights as men.

XOXO,