100 Ways To Cook A Chicken

Before school started this morning, during morning assembly, a kindergarten boy came up to me with a stamp in his hand and held it out.  He wanted to stamp my hand.  Of course, I stuck my hand out with a smile on my face and said "yes!  I would love a stamp!  Thank you!" Then he proceeded to stamp my hand.  It was lime green and maybe half an inch.  It read "joy".  You can still barely see it on my hand at 4:36 in the afternoon (and many times of washing my hands during the day). I find it ironic that the stamp he had today said "joy".  I could paint you a word picture of this kindergartener and there's many things I could say about him. Like most six year old boys you will encounter, he is full of wonder, life, emotions, questions and most importantly, full of joy.  I could have told the boy I didn't want a stamp, but you see that would have killed his joy.  I'm sure he didn't know it when he stamped my hand this morning that his s...

If you like me, you have seen a big push of people, especially women talking about "self care" lately.  I suppose that's because as women we tend to take on a lot.  I have learned in the past several months that self care is very important.  I remember seeing a graphic on Pinterest and I'm sure on Facebook as well that says "You cannot pour from an empty cup."  That really hit home to me.  I know that I am not a mother, but I am a lot of things and a lot of people require my attention and my support.  I am a teacher, an Auntie, a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, and a friend.  I cannot be the best teacher, Auntie, daughter, sister, girlfriend and friend if I do not take the time to fill my cup.  Stress takes a toll on your body and your mind, so self care not only benefits you physically and emotionally, it also benefits those around you. Why is it important? It gives you a break.  When we are working so hard to meet deadlines and get ...

Last year during a book study at school we were reading The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon.  One of our assignments during our study was to pick one word for our year which is also based on a book, My One Word by Mike Ashcraft and Rachel Olsen. Long story short, instead of making a resolution for the New Year.  You pick a word.  If you go here  you can read about that. Basically, here is a simple three step introduction. Step One:  Determine the kind of person you want to be. Step Two:  Identify the characteristics of that person. Step Three:  Pick a word. Last year, I picked the word consistent. I felt that I did a good job being consistent. I started thinking about what word I wanted to use for 2019.  I have been thinking for a few weeks.  I have still been thinking about the person I want to be this year, and for every year for that matter.  I have thought about those characteristics of that person.  And today, on th...

I am not sure why I started this blog approximately a million years ago other than I enjoyed placing my thoughts together.  I also enjoyed feedback from my friends, even though I figured they were just being nice because they are my friends.  I know I will never how some great blog.  I don't have the time to figure all of that out.  I don't have the know how to code and make it all pretty.  And I'm ok with that.  Hopefully you all are too.  I will never be a fashion blogger, or fitness blogger, or any one of importance.  And that, too, is ok.  I just spent an embarrassing amount of time going back and reading some of my former blog posts.  I'm sorry that I subjected you to that.  2011 was a long time ago.  I was a 25 year old, single, overweight, third grade teacher. So Allow My To Reintroduce Myself Hi!  I'm Megan !  I am now a 32 year old, overweight, first and second grade math teacher.  I like to ...

First thing's first, don't think I will type something every day, I won't. Secondly, apparently some folks think I am not happy.  That is totally not the case.  I know I did at one point in my post last night refer to this point in my life as a "season of sadness".  I did not mean necessarily mean I am sad and you should feel sorry for me (or offer up your advice on finding a man).  This year has sucked.  And it has nothing to do with a man. I am content as I am.  It took me 30 years to like myself and the person I am and I will not start feeling sorry for myself again.  Yes, there are times it would be nice to have a man.  It would be nice to have a relationship, someone to spend time with, and someone to share life with.  However, I know what I want.  I know what I don't.  And I know what I will not settle for. I will not settle for less than what I want or less than what I deserve.  I would rather be alone and unha...

Hey!  Remember me?  It's just been a year or two.  I guess I felt like I ran out of things to say.  Or maybe I thought I wasn't interesting.  Then I realized tonight, I missed typing my feelings for the world (or the three people that read my thoughts). Let's see, what has happened.... Nothing interesting I'm sure. I'm 30, that's new. I'm single, that's not. I'm brunette again, but I guess the blog word didn't see the blonde.  I gained all the weight I lost back, so there's that. I have been struggling lately, with just about everything.  Mostly, I am on the single struggle bus.  I have a bus pass and keep chugging along. I guess at this time of year it gets worse; everyone is getting engaged, announcing the are expecting, or starting new relationships.  And while I can rejoice with my friends in their seasons of happiness, I can't help but mourn my season of sadness.  Sometimes the season seems to drag on. I guess wh...

Have you ever had the air knocked out of you? I remember when I was in elementary school we had this jungle gym type of structure that was shaped like a school bus.  You could climb in through a hole to look like a door and crawl your way to the back and slide down a pole.  There were all sorts of beams and the more coordinated children would do flips off of the poles.  I was not one of the more coordinated children, but one day I decided I wanted to flip over the bar.  I sat on it, dangled upside down, and let go.  Instead of gracefully landing on my feet like everyone else, I landed flat on my back.  I had the breath knocked out of me.  Being a small child, this freaked me out. Years later as a teenager, I decided to try to perform the same tasks off of a porch swing.  To the same result, I landed on my back finding it hard to breathe. Today, I feel much of the same sensation.  The air is knocked out of me and it's hard to breathe....

Hello world! So I have been a slacker.  My bad. I guess it's a good thing nobody reads this crap. Ok, so.  Point of this post.  I'll get to that now, I suppose. There's this challenge going around the social media world, 100 Happy Days.  The point is that people suck at being happy and this is a little experiment to see if people can find one thing every day that makes them happy. And over 100 days everything is supposed to be rainbows, butterflies, unicorns and glitter.  I am paraphrasing of course. According to their website, 71% of the people that have started this challenge have quit, saying that they don't have time. Apparently we live in a culture where we don't have time to be happy. This concerns me. However, we all know I am not the happiest person.  Actually, currently I am not happy at all. Well, if we are being honest with each other it goes deeper than not being happy.   Hurt, angry, enraged, upset, aching, pissed, confused. Yeah...

First off, I am typing this on my iPad and its terrible.  My desktop is being a punk and my laptop is too. Anyways.... One year ago today I started going to the gym. It has been 365 days of exercising, clean eating, and struggling. I have put my healthy habits aside for the holidays. I decided that I had deprived myself all year and I wasn't going to do that during the holidays. I said that I knew I would gain weight, and I'd be ok with it as long as it was less an 10 pounds. I went to the gym for the first time in a while today. I weighed before I got started. I gained weight. It was less than ten pounds, but I was not ok with it. I worked hard to get that weight off and carelessly put it back on. I did realize that I probably would have but on that weight anyway drying the holidays (you know like if I didn't lose the weight) and it would be a lot worse. I don't believe in Resolutions. They always fall apart.  I believe in goals. I do have goals for 2014. H...

Over the last few years I have done a month by month breakdown of my year. I know no one else probably enjoys it, but I do.  I'm going to try to limit it two 3-5 things a month. January Started going to the gym Saw Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line in Southaven with Summer and Katie. Met Florida Georgia Line February Saw Mary Poppins March Started Women Can Run Went tomNashville (was supposed to see Lady Gaga but she canceled) Visited Tiffany's and got me a pretty Went on one of my two trips to Josie's Had a snowy Spring Break April Made my only trip to the Memphis zoo Celebrated my 27th birthday. Went to a Scottish Festival with Katie. Went to Nashville to see Gary Allan at the Ryman. I MET GARY ALLAN. We had breakfast at The Pancake Pantry, shopped, went to Johnny and June's graves and found out where Gary Allan lives. May Ran in my first 5K Graduated with my Masters Katie and I took are second annual Hardy trip June Went to the Opry a...

I blogged about some of my favorite things before, but it kind wasn't a good blog and I quit after a few things, so I thought I'd do it again.  If I was rich, or had a super famous blog I'd give something away.  But I am neither rich or a famous blogger, so therefore you can just read about my favorite things and maybe purchase them for yourself.  Trust me, I think they are awesome or I wouldn't be wasting my time telling you about them. Julep Deep Clean  This is my newest find.  I got it in my Julep Maven box (I'll get to that in a second).  This sells for $40.00 on their website . This is an excellent face cleaner.  It cleans all the make up off your face, literally.  It smells a little bit like furniture polish, but I actually kind of like it. Back to the Julep Maven box, if you have 19.99 laying around every month this is a good investment.  You take a short quiz, they tell you what your style profile is.  Every mon...

I can't sum it up much better than that right up there. Today is a bad day. Nothing really terrible happened, just a lot of bad things. I'm getting mighty tired of this cold.  I actually really want to go run, but I'm afraid I'll hack up a lung if I do.  And I'm pretty sure I'll need that lung later in life. I'm also hungry.  Like really hungry.  I want Chicken Nuggets and French Fries.  Only guess what?  I said no fast food for December.  So that means I don't get Chicken Nuggets and French Fries.  Maybe I should have given up something easy...like dates.  No dating December.  Seems to be the way December will go down anyway.  Yea I got stood up today...... And I'm still hungry. And I still want McDonald's. Or Starbucks. Or anything...anything with grease, sugar, loads of calories and yummy goodness. And can we talk about this for a minute?  What the crap? I have grand plans for this weekend....

So after I got on the scale Friday and realized I gained a total of 7 pounds, I got a little upset.  So I decided to do something about it.  Well, since I'm sick there's not much I can do as far as working out, but I can start eating right and stop eating everything in sight.  I decided I would make a list of December goals. No Fast Food.  Not that I eat fast food a lot, but I have been known to eat McDonald's every so often.  I am not going to be eating any fast food. No Candy.  Again, I don't eat much candy, but I eat it every once in a while. Make it to the gym 3 days a week Take one minute of my 5k.  That might not seem like much but it will be to me. Only order salads when going out to eat (or from the "light" menu).  I will be going out of town next week so I will have to eat out but I can at least make smart choices I know that isn't much of a list of goals, but it's at least something obtainable.  I have set realistic goals b...

I guess since it's Thanksgiving I feel obligated to do a "thankful post" today.  I have a very blessed life and I know it.  I am lucky to have the things that I have and even though I don't seem like it all the time I am very grateful for it.  Today was a great day with family.  My parents, my brother and I went to my grandparents house for lunch.  We had a delicious fried turkey, ham, green bean casserole, hashbrown casserole, broccoli and rice, slaw, and pecan and sweet potato pies.  My grandmother and mother are excellent cooks.  After lunch we lounged around and talked. Then my mother and I went to Wal-Mart, with everyone in Trumann, to rack up on some Black Friday (even though it's really Thursday) deals.  It was a great day. Luckily I went through old facebook photos and found one from last Thanksgiving before I ate a third piece of pie.  I will not post it here, because my mother said "Ew, don't post that on Facebook," (thanks mom)....

Today after school, I will load up and head to Little Rock to walk in the Race for the Cure for the third year.  I hate that I haven't done this more.  I am excited though, as this is the first year I will go and actually be in shape.  We don't run it, we walk.  We walk with my mother, who is a 16 year survivor. My mother and I don't get along all the time, in fact we were mad at each other last night and I'm pretty sure I kept telling her I wasn't going to Little Rock today.  And even though we don't get along everyday, I can't help but think how different of an occasion this walk would be. I could have lost my mom 16 years ago.  I could have grown up without my mother.  That idea really scares the crap out of me. I could be one of those girls that has "In Memory of My Mother" instead of "In Honor of My Mother".  Things could be completely different, I am glad it's not.

So, school started and I haven't had the time to update.  I am a slacker.  Enough about that. Here is an update for you guys (I know you're excited). So school started.  I am teaching second grade for the first year.  I love it! I made a trip to Nashville, went to the Johnny Cash Museum and it is amazing.  You should go.   I have told Canesa I will do a marathon in March.  It may turn into a 10K instead of a marathon.  13.1 is a lot of miles.   I have lost 40 pounds. I had a root canal, that was no fun. The Walking Dead starts next week and that excites me. I am going to The Race For The Cure on the 19 in Little Rock.  I am so excited to get to go again and walk with my mom and our friends! I am currently obsessed with How I Met Your Mother. I'm also obsessed with Piko tunics, leggings, and my Champs hi/lo dress from Kiki La Rue. I also love a good photo booth, like the 1980s one they had at Flashdance at the Orphe...

Finish The Sentence With Jake & Holly Hey!  I've never done a link up before but I thought, why not.  My page sucks and I'm almost embarrassed to link up and have some really cool "professional" type bloggers look at it, but oh well.  Make fun if you want, I'm a stressed out teacher, that hasn't even had time to blog in ages. Anyways I read these link up things all the time, always wanted to join in the fun.  This one looked fun...so here it goes.  I hope I don't suck.  BTW, I'm such I loser I don't know how to link up right, sorry I'm a failure My happy place... Walking down Broadway in Nashville, TN.  I love all the live music you can hear from every honky tonk.  Or at a musical.... Or at a live concert... Or the beach...  Pretty much if you get my out of the house or work I'm friggin' happy. Whatever happened to... Andrew Keegan.  I may google that later.  (and yes the Full House song popped in my head too...

I posted the following picture on Facebook and Instagram last night. I posted the following caption with it:  I wish I could explain how it feels to look at these pictures. I'm sure I should feel proud, but I feel disgusted. I remember being that girl. I remember how I felt.... Miserable. Look at that stomach. That isn't normal. That's not how a woman is supposed to look. I am disappointed in myself that I did that to myself. I am also disgusted that I've come so far and I've been slacking. I hate it. And I hate what I've done. Turning around again. ‪#‎ progress‬ ‪#‎ motivation‬ ‪#‎ fightingtheinnerfatgirl‬ My Instagram friends took this post for what it was worth, leaving comments such as "We all fall down and get back up" and "I understand how you feel,I've been slacking too".  My Facebook friends, however, just kept telling me how I was beautiful before and now and that beauty is not defined by a size and not to be to ...

I feel like I need an update.  It's going to be a mixture of things, get ready. First off, I may have found my missing motivation.  I completed my 2nd 5K on Saturday, been to the gym twice.  It's slowly creeping back!  More on that to follow. The last few days have been full of excitement.  Last Wednesday, Katie came over and we turned our bad day into a creative day and painted.  I am not a very talented painter, to say the least, but I had a great time.  Finish Products Friday, I had a friend call me and tell me to get ready they were coming to get me to take me to see Gary Allan.  I was very excited, well that may be an understatement.  I was thrilled.  Honestly, I hadn't been that happy in a while.  I got ready super quick and went to Tunica for a fun night.  Gary Allan is seriously one of the best, I should know I go to a lot of concerts and buy a lot of music.  He literally puts on a better show every time ...

So, lately..... I have been...... what's the word......  slacking. I have been to the gym once. And I have eaten everything that hasn't eaten me.   I have gained 3 pounds. I know why my motivation left, I just don't know how get it back. Most people love me (or tolerate me) for my honesty and openness.  So I am going to be both things, open and honest.  I could say my lack of motivation came from anywhere.  But, if we are being honest, it came from a boy letting me down.  You don't need the details, and this isn't the place to air them, but let's just say it went from really good to really bad really fast.  And I was not really happy. When bad things happen, it is so easy to  go back to old, bad habits and I have many old, bad habits.  Two of the main ones are sitting on my butt and watching TV and eating my feelings, which I have done the for the last few days. Even thought I'm over the initial shock and embarrassment o...