Mister & Pete

We just watched "The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete" on Netflix. I highly recommend it.

Keeping Track of Current Events

I'm not sure if I told you this, but I stopped watching the Today Show.  It was just taking up way to much of my time and I was not working efficiently enough.

But then I felt like I had no idea what was happening in the world.

I found a website that I love.  It's a fast way to check the news and it has links to longer news stories if I have the time/interest to learn more.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/

Then go to the "cheat sheet"

A Beautiful Letter

This letter is simply beautiful.  A must read.


http://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/pastor-saeeds-letter-to-his-daughter-rebekka/

Reading Review

Oh, reading! A central component of my life. I don't do much leisure reading these days since I'm reading massive amounts for work everyday.

Thankfully, my once-a-month book club spurs me on to finish at least one extra-curricular book a month. Right now we're reading this:



I'm only in the third chapter. It's interesting. I never select the non-fiction books, but I'm always glad when someone does. I feel like I benefit a lot from stepping into someone else's shoes.

Last month we read this:



I would not recommend it. No offense to Mom and her generation, but I don't think you could fully appreciate this unless you were a hippie in the 70's doing a significant amount of drugs.

Caleb and I are reading this:



He's having a good go at it (reading it makes me want to use strange English expressions, with an accent of course). But I think when we're finished, I'll move to something a little lighter. Something like this:



Love you two! Can't wait to hear how the books go:)

p.s. Speaking of work - I teach Wednesday night until 9:45pm and work all day (9:00am-9:45pm) on Thursday. Caleb is available to come over on Thursday after Tomi's house, but I won't be able to see you until Friday morning. I don't have anything scheduled (except for a new believer's class on Sunday morning and Caleb's swim lesson on Saturday morning) for the rest of the weekend. I can't wait to see the Purdys and Grandma!

The Importance of Reading

At church this weekend, Lorrits talked about the importance of leaders being readers.  He mentioned that church leaders must be in the habit of praying and reading daily.  Not just reading the Bible, but also learning from others.  So that made me think about how I have kind of stopped reading the past few weeks...

So I decided I would post books on here to keep myself accountable.

To grow professionally, I am going to read Making Thinking Visible.

To grow spiritually, I am thinking of reading a Paul Miller Book.  Any thoughts about A Loving Life?

To grow as a mother, I think I am going to try to finish Bringing Up Bebe.

My plan is to try to just get a little bit of reading in each day, so I will probably be reading these for awhile.

Are you reading anything good?

Best Song for New Moms

This song gets me every time.  Especially if I put it on when I am feeding him in the middle of the night.  I love it.  Check it out when you get a second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkCk-76DtKQ

Teacher Discounts

Did you know you can get secret teacher discounts at a ton of different stores?  You just need your school ID!  I'm sure you could use the ECC ID... they didn't seem very picky.

I bought a shirt on clearance at The Limited and they gave me an additional 15% off because Chris is a teacher.  It made it dirt cheap! It's crazy that on any sale you can get an additional amount off!

So this made me want to investigate where else I was spending more than I needed to be... Here is a list of places... some of the websites seemed a bit outdated, but it's worth a shot.

Craft/School Supply Places

JoAnn Fabric - 15%

The Container Store - 15%*

Michaels - 15%

Books

Barnes and Noble - 20%* off hardcover 15% off softcover 

Book Warehouse - 15%*

Half Priced Books - 10%*

The New York Times - 50%

National Geographic - $12 a year subscription

Clothing

Ann Taylor Loft - 15%

J. Crew - 15%

Banana Republic - 10%

The Limited - 15%

New York and Company - 15%*

Bunion Bootie - 10% I put this on for you mom :)

Talbots - 15%

Christopher and Banks - 10%

Random

AT&T - 15%

Marriott Hotels - have teacher rates for hotels

National Park Service - 15%

Graceland - FREE for teachers

Art Institute of Chicago- Free for teachers

Field Museum Chicago- Free for teachers

There are other random places, I just listed the ones that most interested me.

* - places that require you to register as a teacher first

I wanted a place to put all the random things I think about, research, or do.  Since I usually think, "oh I should tell Laura or Mom about this" I figured I would just compile it into blog form.  Feel free to add posts if you have anything.  No pressure of course.