Joy...always

Who would have thought that getting 8 teachers together to learn a 2 minute dance in the school's musical production of "Mary Poppins Jr" would be so supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? (Sorry, I had to throw that descriptor in somewhere.)

But seriously - Educator life goal of making a cameo appearance in the school play complete. (But hey, if the opportunity presents itself, I'll do it again in the future...just sayin'...it doesn't have to be a one and done thing.)

Check out the whole dance HERE. :)

Best bloomin' chimney sweeps around, eh?

What strikes me about this group of fabulous educators, led, of course, by our principal (third from the left), is the constant JOY they emanate and the energy they bring each day to their classrooms and lessons. In a Catholic school, joy should always be what grounds us in the education of minds and hearts.

And I think as we prepare for Catholic Schools Week, we need to remember this. It's likely, from time to time, that many of us will lose that sense of joy, even if ever so briefly. (Trust me from personal experience on this one.) We get caught up in deadlines, paper grading, student misbehavior or frustration, lack of time, too many meetings, parent communication, etc. etc. etc. And then, we get disheartened, frustrated with ourselves and our students, and we wonder, Am I really cut out to be a teacher? (Spoiler alert: The answer is most likely yes.)

To be joyful is a choice, and it comes from first being filled with joy from knowing and loving God, letting our hearts be filled with the Holy Spirit. It comes from Mass, and prayer, and time, and commitment. It comes from surrounding ourselves with good people, others who have discovered their same God-given purpose in Catholic education. And it comes from helping our students recognize and find that same joy in their own relationships with Jesus.

So, as we gear up for Catholic Schools Week, we need to lift one another in prayer to our Father and ask that He fill our hearts with joy and gratitude so that through our work as educators we continue to make Him known, loved, and served.

Hold On (& Slow Down)...It's Sunday

Sundays have a way of reminding me to slow down.

Ok, so I got up at 6:45, but that was because I wanted to sip my coffee slowly and read my book before it was time to go to Family Mass across town where I teach. The sun wasn't quite awake yet, and everything in my apartment was quiet...except for the hissing of the radiators. Soon, I had the coffee percolating, my breakfast ready, and my book open. I was drawn into the author's portrayal of her family's experience as Jews in Poland during WWII, not wanting to believe the horrific acts done to innocent lives by those in positions of power. Still, I read on...

Mass wasn't till 10am (though, I knew I would have to leave at 9:15 to err on the side of caution), so I was able to take my time getting cleaned up and ready, listening to one of my favorite podcasts on low so as to not disturb my roommates.

I took a quick stroll up to the corner to drop off a few birthday cards in the mailbox, and then I was off to church. The sun was shining, my podcast was playing, and there weren't too many cars on the road. (Though, some of the cars I found in front of me were moving along rather slowly.) I must admit, it's quite a difference to head to school on the weekend, without having the immediacy of a school day's tasks looming in front of you.

The parking lot was relatively empty - that was probably because I arrived 15 minutes early. As I stepped out of my car and started walking toward the church, an elderly woman asked if she could borrow my arm to cross the street over to the church side. I obliged, introducing myself and telling her that I work for the school. She then introduced herself, explaining how she is a retired teacher and now does tutoring and consulting in education. It was, all in all, about a three minute interaction, but it brought a smile to my face to have that conversation.

I was surprised to see so many students at Mass, many of whom waved or came over to say hi. Most of the school families present had a child (or two) in our upcoming school play, and those children had parts at Mass today as ushers and greeters. During Mass, our pastor prayed a special blessing over those students and wished them well for their performances this weekend. I love seeing so many kids at Mass - it's truly getting to see them in another light besides the hustle and bustle of the school day.

On my way home, I spoke to my parents on the phone. They've been pretty busy recently (as have I), so it had been awhile since we talked. As I drove down Lakeshore Drive, I looked out and saw several runners and walkers on the trail, and I decided a jog in this weather might be a good decision. So, after I hung up with my parents, I put on my running gear, protecting my hands and ears from the cold, and headed out the door. It was meant to be a short three miler, but it was such a beautiful day, especially with the sun shining and only a light breeze (not a driving force of wind) that I ended up going about five miles instead. It felt good, even the parts when I had to run through the snow, where the trail had not yet been shoveled/plowed. 

As I sit in my living room, having just finished some leftover shredded chicken and cheese tacos (and a little bit of dessert), I am ready to pick up my book again and relax until my women's prayer group tonight. 

There is a lot going on at school these next few weeks as we get ready for Catholic Schools Week, so there is probably something I could/should be working on to prepare...but for now, it's Sunday, our day of rest. School, worries, and other tasks can wait. For today, I can be content to take it slowly.

Instant Success

My graduation from the Notre Dame Remick Leadership Program was in July...but it took me awhile to think of a graduation gift that my parents wanted to get me. (Understandably, there was quite a bit that was happening right afterwards - my sister's wedding, a change of schools and position, the start of the school year...)

But right after Thanksgiving I decided what I wanted - an Instant Pot. Thanks to the combination of Cyber Monday and a snow day I was able to get quite a deal on it. So, technically I bought it...but then my parents paid me back.

I'll readily admit that it stayed in the box until today. I wasn't ready to read the instructions before the Christmas break, as there was too much going on between school and personal commitments. (Heck, I didn't even get a chance to practice my guitar during that time.) Over the break, though, I browsed Pinterest and started my own board of recipes to try, and I picked a chicken curry one to make first. (My board also has some tips and tricks, so you can be sure I read up on those blogs and sites ahead of time.)

Seeing how I got back from Michigan at a rather decent hour, which allowed for a grocery run in the daylight (even if it was overcast), I decided today would be the day when I would put the Instant Pot to the test and see what all the hype is about.

These were the steps I took to Instant Pot success:

Step 1: Take Instant Pot (and accessories) out of box.

Step 2: Read instruction manual. (This is where I diverge from the other Foyles in my family who take the instruction manual only to throw it over their shoulders.)

manuals are important

Step 3: Prepare ingredients. (I made a mistake here and could not cube the chicken because it was still frozen, but it all worked out in the end because the chicken still cooked and it saved me some chopping.)

Step 4: Follow the instructions on the blogpost. (And make sure you know which button is which on the device.)

Step 5: Step back and let the pressure cooker do its thing. (This was slightly frustrating the first time, as the Instant Pot is not quite as instant as you might think.)

Waiting for the pressure cooking to finish

Prepare yourself mentally and physically (step away from the pot) for the part where the steam lets off.

Check out the steam from this sucker! 

(5 sec video - turn sound on)

Step 6: Let the steam clear and the pot cool before serving. Then, enjoy!

chicken curry over cauliflower rice = success!

The chicken curry dish was quite tasty (even though it wasn't as thick as I would have liked), so I'd be interested in trying it again at some point in the future. And I'll consider this first try a success! I definitely want to explore some soup options in the coming weeks and see how those go, and apparently you can hard boil eggs in this gadget, so that's exciting.

I can't instantly say anything along the lines of "Instant Pot changed my life," but who knows...maybe it will one day. Till then, I can honestly say that I'm satisfied with my graduation gift. (Thanks mom!)

In 2019, Give Me 5

2019 - Holy cow, it feels like we're talking about some futuristic time period. Yet, the calendar flips to it tomorrow at midnight. I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but time sure flies.

I know it's cliche to talk about goals for the upcoming year, but I figure I should put my own in writing anyways...and now is as good a time as any, isn't it? Now, some of these things I am already committed to, but I'm pretty sure they still count, even if I made these goals/commitments within the past few months:

1. Use my talents for the betterment of others --> Run a marathon for charity - I started training a few weeks ago for the annual ACE marathon in the spring. And I've raised about $200 so far (thanks to my amazing friends who have donated!). I convinced my sister to run it with me, and I have friends in the CA area who are planning to come out to cheer and visit, so it's going to be quite a weekend. I just need to buy that plane ticket...

2. Grow in community and share of my time --> Volunteer on a regular basis for the same organization - Recently I've helped out at various organizations and for random activities as the opportunities presented themselves. And those were all quite worthwhile. (My recent favorite was volunteering at Misericordia's bakery during the holiday season with a group from church.) But I started to feel like I was missing something - that I wanted to have a relationship with an organization, the people running it as well as other volunteers. So I connected with Mission OLA - the group of nuns and religious there do an amazing job in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and they are always looking for helping hands. It should be the perfect fit, and I'll hopefully make it over there on a weekly basis starting in a couple of weeks. And, who knows, I might end up doing another marathon (Indianapolis, perhaps?) to fundraise for them in the fall (see goal #1). I'll keep you posted...

3. Share my passion for Catholic education --> Present at a national conference - I have one of my grad school professors to thank for pushing me on this one. I've always wanted to attend NCEA, and this year it's in Chicago...and I submitted a proposal to present, which was accepted. (And I found out that several friends are also presenting at the conference!) Now that we're just a few months out, it's a little nerve-wracking, but I'm also excited, as my topic is along the lines of my grad school work on getting students engaged in preparing for, participating in, and reflecting on the Catholic Mass. I definitely have some work to do before April.

4. Grow in knowledge and cultivate (new) friendships --> Join a book club - Since grad school finished, I've found myself filling quite a bit of my time with books. I ended up stumbling across many good reads since July, but it tends to be, at least for me, more fruitful when you read in a group and for a purpose. Therefore, in January I plan to join a local Catholic book club at a church nearby. Their first read is a book about Pier Giorgio Frassati - he is a saint I've wanted to learn more about, so this might work out quite nicely!

5. Be brave and open up to others --> Take a chance on the opposite sex - Admittedly, I feel a little funny putting this one in writing, especially since everyone always tells you that love happens when you least expect it and that I've never been particularly skilled in the flirting department, but what the heck. After all, I no longer have grad school and my sister's wedding as excuses, do I? What do I have to lose (except my comfort zone)?


Five goals seems doable, especially considering many of them are already in motion. And I hope that these particular goals will help me become a better person and a more devoted disciple of Christ one day at a time. Cheers to 2019!

iRead 2018

1. Bored Again Catholic: How the Mass Could Save Your Life (Timothy P O’Malley) - 1/4/18
2. Of Beetles and Angels (Mawi Asgedom) - 3/30/18
3. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates (Wes Moore) - 6/12/18
4. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World (Admiral William H. McRaven) - 6/13/18
5. The Baker’s Secret (Stephen P Kiernan) - 6/22/18
6. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom) - 7/16/18
7. The Secret Of Magic (Deborah Johnson) - 7/25/18
8. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) - 7/31/18
9. Beartown (Frederik Backman) - 8/2/18
10. One Day (Dan Nicholls) - 8/9/18
11. The Boys in the Boat (Daniel James Brown) - 10/3/18
12. A Spark of Light (Jodi Picoult) - 10/7/18
13. Every Note Played (audiobook) (Lisa Genova) - 10/12/18
14. The Next Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom) - 10/12/18 *This one was my favorite, hands down! Can't compete with Mitch Albom in my book (no pun intended).*
15. Nowhere Boy (Katherine Marsh) - 10/27/18
16. Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions (Valeria Luiselli) - 10/28/18
17. The Dream Daughter (Diane Chamberlain) - 11/4/18
18. The Rain Watcher (Tatiana de Rosnay) - 11/18/18
19. The Energy Bus (Jon Gordon) - 11/18/18
20. The No Complaining Rule (Jon Gordon) - 11/24/18
21. Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed In our All-About-Me World (Michele Borba, Ed.D.) - 12/23/18
22. Before We Were Yours (Lisa Wingate) - 12/24/18
23. The Magician’s Nephew (CS Lewis) - 12/25/18
24. One Day in December (Josie Silver) - 12/27/18

25. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis) - 12/29/18

As you can see, the first half of 2018 was a little light in the book department (and that's understandably so as during that time I was finishing up grad school), but I made up for my lack of recreational reading during the latter half of the year, especially the last three months of it. While I wouldn't come right out and recommend every book on this list, most were well worth the time and effort. Some were recommendations from friends (or, increasingly, Instagram posts) while others were re-reads, favorite authors, or random finds. (Sometimes book covers just appeal to me; I can't explain it.)

I know you may be thinking I was premature in posting this list, as I still have a few days to go in 2018, but I'm quite content with this list as is. Though, a few more books (especially those in the Narnia series) might grace this list before the ball drops on NYE. We shall see...

Another year in the books, would you look at that... (I'm now accepting reading recs for 2019, in case you were wondering.)

Through the Wardrobe

I think it's time to get back to blogging, mostly for my own sake if for no one else's occasional enjoyment. It's good to look back from time to time and reflect on what crossed my mind, tickled my fancy, or made an impact over the past year...

Take this Christmas break, for example. It's been rather laid back - we've done some visiting, some church-going, some baking and cooking, some marathon training, and a LOT of reading. When I arrived at my parents' house in Michigan, I remembered that I had left a few boxes of books in the basement - these were books I couldn't bear to part with (even if they would be collecting dust in the basement) when I went from classroom teacher to school administrator last summer. In this box of books was the Chronicles of Narnia boxed set, so I brought that up, started reading, and plan to bring the complete set home with me when I head back to Chicago in a few days. (I've never actually read the whole series, which, as a religion teacher for many years, I am ashamed to admit, as the themes are so rich for teaching the faith.)

But anyways...once upon a time in my early teaching days in Arizona, I used The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a read aloud for my fourth grade class. Now, I know as a teacher you're not supposed to have favorites, but this particular class was pretty darn special. Some of that was due to the fact that I had the most amazing group of parents with whom some, to this day, I still keep in touch. As we read through the novel, I got to thinking it would be pretty incredible to create Narnia for my students, so I suggested it to the parents, and they brought my idea to life. (And this was back before the days of Pinterest!) With an adjoining empty classroom, it wasn't too hard. They must have done most of the set-up during the morning, and when my class went to specials, they put the wardrobe in my classroom. When the kids got back, they went nuts! Cries of "It's Narnia!" rang through our room, and they, of course, wanted to try it out. (Who wouldn't?)

We opened the "wardrobe" (which was probably a refrigerator box, but I don't quite remember), and went next door. The parents had done an incredible job - snowflakes were hanging from the ceiling, miniature houses and cotton balls created a sense of a village, and there were toy figurines representing some of the characters, including Aslan. We even had a lamppost! (That I remember clearly as being made from a pole and two clear Chinese take-out boxes engineered together.) After some looking around, my students settled in for a read aloud - we probably read a chapter or two. And then it was time to leave.

By the time we got back from lunch, the wardrobe was gone, Narnia had been whisked away, and it seemed like it had all been a dream. One student astutely pointed out, "Maybe it only happens when it's a cold rainy day," which it surprisingly was that morning. (In Arizona, imagine that!) But my, what a morning we had. And every time I reread Narnia, I'll think of that class and those parents and the magic of opening our imaginations with the creative help from those parents.

In my ten years of teaching, I know I made a lot of mistakes as a teacher, probably more mistakes than things I did right, and I probably didn't raise as many test scores as I should have, but I'm pretty sure they learned at least a little. Above all, I hope my students remember that they had teachers who believed in them, challenged their creative and critical thinking, and loved them.

It's funny how little things hold such big places in our hearts even years and years later. It's memories like these that make me realize I found the vocation God planned for me...and that make me realize I should probably write these things down. ;)

What's the story behind the painting?

To anyone else besides my dad, mom, or sister, the painting that now hangs above my office door would probably carry little meaning. In fact, it's hard to tell at first glance (or, perhaps, even a second or third glance) what the painting is really about. While I do like the painting itself, I am much more content that it found its home in my office because it belonged to my great aunt who passed away this summer.

What's the reason it came into my possession and not someone else's? Well, it's not a long story...but it's not a short story either, so bear with me.

My great aunt, Marg (or, as she fondly dubbed herself, "Aunt Marg, the Great") lived for quite some time most recently in an assisted living facility in a small town in Michigan, and we would go to visit her whenever we were in town. It wasn't necessarily a quick car ride, but we usually made a day out of it, bringing her coffee and soup from Panera and then visiting other family friends out that way later in the evening.

Now, you had to be careful around Aunt Marg - if you mentioned offhand that you liked something she had, you might end up taking it home. So, when she made a big deal out of liking a painting that hung by the elevators on the fifth floor of her complex, I couldn't help but take note of it. And she certainly talked about the painting many times - I wish I could remember what it was that exactly stood out to her in it. 

But that it mattered that much to her was enough for me. I decided I would figure out what this painting was called and how I could get a copy for her (because I surely couldn't steal it from the wall - not that anyone but Marg would have likely noticed). I must say that it's somewhat difficult to figure out a painting's title without the artist's name or some other concrete facts like when it was painted. I found myself typing into the Google search engine things like "woman in red dress dancing on the beach" and "umbrella" and "maid" until I found its title: "The Singing Butler." (See what Wikipedia has to say about it here.) The title really didn't make sense to me, but from that I was able to google it and find a decently priced poster version of it.

I'll never forget how the poster arrived - it came in a triangular tube, so it had some creases, which my dad couldn't help but point out to me. But I wasn't going to let that stop me or get me down - we flattened it out with some heavy books, and then we brought it to Aunt Marg on our next visit. She loved it, and her son and daughter-in-law ended up getting a nice frame for it, and it hung in her apartment until she passed away in June. I'm not sure if it was my dad or my great aunt who made note that I would get the artwork when she died, but this summer I was informed it was mine now.


So, when my dad came to Chicago to visit about a month or so ago, he brought it with him...and it sat on the floor of my office until today, when some of our wonderful maintenance staff hung it on the wall for me. I'm sure there will be plenty of people (students and adults, alike) who will be in and out of my office in the coming years and months who'll wonder why that painting means enough to me for it to hang above my door. And, if they ask, I can tell them about a wonderful woman who always looked at events and setbacks as "life's little adventures" and who definitely lived up to her name, "Aunt Marg, the Great."