Football!!!!

To everyone who is going to the inaugral game at McClane Stadium... I hate you. Like, sincerely, hate you. 
My AP Top 25 excel sheet is set up and I am SO ready for football season. 

And who is that you see in the top 10??? That's riiight! BAYLOR!!!!!!! And thanks to Duck Dude's Aggies, hopefully we will be moving on up!!

However, I am going to have to get Koal dog a green bandana. She will just have an outfit change when A&M and Baylor play on the same day. 

Did I mention my cousin was on the front page of the Waco paper? Yeah, famous people are in my family. I'm pretty excited about it. 

Shout out Uncle Phil. 

And then I saw this, this morning and I knew it was going to be a good weekend. I would die before I had a little family characature on my car.... but I would definitely have a family of Spidermans. For sure. Plus Koal dog, obviously.

Happy Friday!!! And Happy 3 day weekend!!!!!!!

Cargivers Award

You guys, I'm swamped with things right now. So, I apologize for not making it to class and probably won't for the rest of the week. But, I have an awesome story for you. 
A story of love and compassion. This is my friend and she's in my wonderful organization. Her jersey was retired this year because she's raised over 10,000 dollars for Blondes vs Brunettes!!
This year, we got to give it back to her. 

Read it here!

A Reminder

I know I have people of all color, size, gender, and religious views that read my blog and I love each of you very much! 
That being said, as I enter this hectic and chaotic couple of weeks, I turn to one thing to calm me. Music. There are songs I just make connections with and songs that I will play on repeat over and over again. Last week I posted T Swift's new song... it was what I needed last week. 
This week, I need something else. A reminder that my God is alive and he is working in the hearts of my students, parents, athletes, coworkers, administrators, and myself. 

One final breath He gave

As Heaven looked away

The Son of God was laid in darkness

A battle in the grave

The war on death was waged

The power of hell forever broken

The ground began to shake

The stone was rolled away

His perfect love could not be overcome

Now death where is your sting

Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated

Forever, He is glorified

Forever, He is lifted high

Forever, He is risen

He is alive

He is alive

So, this week, this song is on repeat.

Shake it Off

Oh heyyyy Mollie. Where you been all week? 
Oh, you've been in boring teacher trainings? That sounds terrible. 
Oh you've already been to that training before and had to sit through it again? That sounds dumb.
You don't have your iPads in your classroom yet? Annnd they cannot locate your "cart"? 
You have 36 in one class?? That seems like too many students. 
You haven't made one copy for Monday yet? 
Oh, it's because you haven't written your syllabus for this year yet? Hmm.. 
Some teachers are questioning why your doing standards based grading?
Well, haters gonna hate. Maybe you should just shake them off. 

**This blog may be used for rants at some times, but it is only so I do not physically hurt the haters. ***I'm like... half kidding.
And happy Friday, I really do mean that. 

This Year's Different

Well, I'm back at the spot where I hit that publish button for 3/4 of the year.... my teacher desk. I'm glad to be back for year number FIVE, but at the same time this year is different. 

• My red head is in North Carolina and no longer a 3 hour drive from me
• My blonde is going to be a senior at Baylor 
• Oh ya know... I am planning a wedding!!!
• There's a brand new math curriculum this year
• I get to have 32 iPads in my room and officially be a "digital" classroom
• I am going to attempt to standards based grade rather than numerically grade
• I really no longer feel like a "new" teacher. Year five. I'm a vet. 
• There's a new principal that I want to get to know.
• There's a new athletic director who I want to get to know. 
• I have to renew my teaching certification this year. 

But, at the end of the day, I am still going to get my 105 students and I am still going to be their teacher. It's still my job to teach them... life skills, character traits, and math concepts. I still get to be a role model and mentor. I still get to love them. I still get to shine Christ's light. And I still get to do what I love. 

So, maybe, it's not really that different after all.

Last Friday of Summer

It's that wonderful day again. Friday. But this is probably the most bittersweet Friday of the entire year. The last Friday of my summer. It's back to school for me on Monday. So today, I am enjoying this Friday. Some shopping, some baking, and some hanging out with friends. Here's a couple of my other favorites this week! 
1. My red head leaves for North Carolina and I had to say goodbye to her Tuesday night. I'm going to miss her so much, but then we have group texts like this and I'm reminded she's only a phone call away. 

2. Back to School Shopping. I went to the Gap and Loft outlet and scored big time!! 35 dollar jeans y'all!!! I spent 110 total and saved 120!! Then since I am a coach, I always need new Nike shorts! Helllllo 4 new pairs!! 

3. And I was so happy saving money that I forgot to eat dinner. When I was on my death bed last week, I was craving ice cream... so I had frozen yogurt for dinner and I didn't regret it one bit!

4. Then my hilarious (almost) sister in law kept me laughing on the couch for the rest of the night. You see, she loves attending sporting events, but you ask her to name the football team in Seattle and she won't know. We like to play sports trivia with her all the time. She is such a good sport. :) My dad was filming last night, so I told them they would probably be on tv at some point! And then this occurred.... and this is why I love her. 

5. I finally checked my mail. When I did so, I found my most favorite-est phone case in the whole entire world. My very first new monogram!!!!! I'm going to try and confuse the heck out of my kids this year by getting married 3/4 of the way through the year. 

Then Duck Dude told me he really loved my new mammogram and I knew all was right in the world. 

Happy Friday lovely people. 

Hang Up to Hang Out

"Hang up to hang out" is a phrase that we use in my family. I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but it simply means we do not have our phones out when we are together. 

And here are my reasons why you should do the same. 

1. Facetime Counts. 

Why do you think FaceTime was invented? Because people like to see other people's faces! People want to see your face. When people are constantly looking down at their phones, we see the tops of heads, more than beautiful faces. I love seeing my friends faces. I have been known to use the phrase, "I miss your face" which is an absolute fact. I miss their face and not the top of their head. 

2. Narcissism Does Not Create Self-Value

Ouch. Did she just say narcissism? Why yes, yes I did. How many notifications do I get on my birthday? Does my profile picture make me look good? How many friends do I have? How many likes can I get on a picture? Does anyone see a common theme? I, me, I, I. I could write the same comments for twitter, instagram, texts, and, heck, even this little blog here. We, as humans, do not get self-worth from looking at our own pictures, we get self-worth from other humans. Constantly checking social media is a form of narcissism whether you want to think about it or not. 

3. I Want to Make Memories. ... not document every 3 minutes of my life. Sometimes as bloggers, we are the worst with this one. No, I need my phone because I have to take a picture for the blog. Well,  I'm here to say I'm not gonna apologize another Monday weekend recap for not taking a picture. It's ok. I can document with my words and have a perfectly good recap of my weekend. I want a lifetime of memories, not a lifetime of pictures. 
4. Don't Miss Out on Opportunities Some of the most random memories I have made have come through talking to strangers. One of the craziest things from the bachelorette party I attended the other weekend was my table struck up a conversation with a table of older ladies beside us. One lady offered another table 50 dollars to switch tables with us so we could sit by another group from the bachelorette party. One time on an airplane, I sat next to a really weird guy and he taught me all about solar panels. He wanted to know why in Texas, where we get so much sun, we don't use solar panels. I had no idea, but now every time I see a solar panel I think of him. These are memories I would never have if I buried my head in a phone. 
Sidenote: I am not saying go and throw your phone in the nearest lake/river/ocean. It's a wonderful modern technology that I use every day. Just be mindful of it and make sure it doesn't effect the quality of life you're living. It doesn't hurt to every now and then hang up and hang out. 

 

You've Got to Go

I was gonna post a recipe today... but yesterday I spent a lovely hour on the phone with Bank of America, and during that time I was scrolling through my contacts. It was at that time, I saw one of those contacts.... a wayyy back ex and I thought "Why in the heck do I even still have him as a contact?" And that sparked a thought... how many of these other contacts are still in my phone? 
So today, I bring you a list of those contacts.... I'm only changing one of their names because, well, what's the fun in completely changing it? 
Eric Barrow - I'm sorry random Baylor guy I met out in Dallas one night, we were never meant to be. You've got to go. 
Brent Anthony - The AIM message you left me when I was leaving for college was, um, sweet? I'm sorry that "being a pro tennis player" hasn't worked out for you. You've got to go. 
Bryan Waters - Dear old back door neighbor, we were never a thing, no matter how hard you tried. You've got to go. 
Chance Cooley - Thanks for all the free shows you allowed me to come to even though my "band groupie" status was extremely short lived. You've got to go. P.S. your band sucks
Hank Leviton - Hey old man. I'm sorry I stopped responding to your 10 test messages, 2 phone calls, and 1 email a day you sent me. I actually do not want to play volleyball with y'all. You've got to go. 
Houston Dallas - Thanks for waiting until the 2nd time you were my personal trainer to hit on me. I'm not sure how you resisted the first time. I will never delete that mirror selfie you sent me. You've got to go. 
John Ellis - I had a lot of fun at that one Rangers Game. I've never sat in such an entertaining section.. but I really just gave you my number because I did not know how to say no. You've got to go.  
Nate Thompson - First off, thanks for being the inspiration for this post. Secondly, I'm really sorry that I laughed when you professed your love to me and I'm really sorry that I left you crying (this was high school). However, the two kids you have now tell me I made a good decision. You've got to go. 
Willie Patton - That blind date was something else. It was the longest Rangers game I've ever been to. I wish my friend would have told me about your lisp before hand. Good luck in all your baseball endeavors, but you've got to go. 
This is wedding-ish Wednesday, right? Everyone's got exs.... now I just need to burn a CD titled "God blessed the broken road" and give it to Duck Dude. 
Good thing I already have one that "Nate Thompson" gave me. 

DIY Jewelry Organizer

At the very beginning of time (aka 2 years ago), my dad gave me this awesome piece. I actually do not have a picture of the original, this is after I've painted the original a gray color.

At the time I was a single girl, and didn't need to leave notes for anyone. I was still using my plastic drawers from Walmart as my jewelry organizer. So, I got a fantastic idea! I would make it into a cork board, and then I could see all of my jewelry, and it would look like a pretty piece of decoration!
This beautiful creation sat on my kitchen/craft table for approximately 9 months. I was so excited to start it, that I began the project with about 10 wine corks. Then I was stuck. Duck Dude cut off a small piece of each wine cork so it would lay flat. Then I simply mod-podged each cork to the chalk board part. Slowly, but surely, we drank enough wine/enough friends gave me their corks (thanks Melanie and Ashley) that I was able to complete it!!

 

It really was the easiest and longest project I have done. And now I can see all my pretty jewelry and have thrown out the jewelry I have not worn in 5 years. 
Win, win for Mollie.... now my only question is... where is it going to go in Duck Dude's house once I move in? 

208 days if you were wondering. 

Fikac Forever

Wedding weekend for the best friend is completed!!! And it was marvelous!! Everything was beautiful, everything went smoothly, and at the end of the day..... they're married!!! They will be Fikac forever! (pronounced fee-cotch.... not fie-cack)
I was number 1 in the list of hair. So my hair was done around 8:30 Saturday morning. We were in the Presidential suite and had plenty of room for all of us girls. Her only request was that we let the one shoulder strap of the dress show, so I opted for an up-do to get it completely out of my way. It stayed all day and night and was beautiful.

Next up was make-up. After some NSYNC jams and mimosas, I was finally up for make up. Our make up was airbrushed, and I loved it! It definitely stayed all night and I think I definitely want to do airbrush for my wedding! 

The bride's sister, MOH, and me with our before and after! 

Bridesmaid Julie, the bride, was absolutely stunning. She looked beautiful, was totally calm, and before we knew it, it was time for her to walk down the aisle. I can only hope my wedding runs like that. 

My wonderful family was there and we danced the night away. I really love that picture on the left. All 6 of us, all looking pretty. It makes my heart very happy. 

A very big congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Fikac!!! I am crazy excited for you and Jeremy to begin your married life together!! And it's super crazy you're going to be Julie Fikac in my wedding, but you will always be Julie Wood to me. I love you! 

MOB Dresses

Short and simple. Today we're going mother of the bride dress shopping. 
Dresses my mother is not allowed to even entertain the thought of buying.

She's not going to prom, she's not in a pageant, and she is not 80. Nope, natta, never.
Dresses she is allowed to think about wearing

 

Making sure my mother looks good on my wedding day isn't super bridezilla-y, right?

Play Like a Girl

I'm still confined to my bed, but hopefully starting an antibiotic will kick my system into gear for this weekend. 
In the meantime, it's given me a lot of time to be on my computer when my eyes are open. I'm in charge of all athletic tshirts, and volleyball is first up on our list. I wanted something awesome this season. Last years shirt was pretty plain but the color was cool, the year before was neon pink, and the year before that was purple and green. I couldn't even think of a color scheme. 
So I face timed sister Caroline and said show me your tshirts in your closet. She's in a sorority at Baylor and gets about 241 shirts per week. I figured I could get some ideas. She happily obliged me and I found one I liked. A coral shirt with white and gray writing. Cool. Now.... what to put on it. 
I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted on the back. So, I got on custom ink.com and started designing. The only coral they had was way more of a red-coral than I wanted, but that's the best I could find. 

Motivating enough, without being too cheesy. It looks like it's painted on there. I like. 

I designed a few boring fronts and decided I didn't like any of them. So, I scratched them and went to youtube for some inspiration. Searched around for a bit, and then I found it. I had seen this video before, but forgot about it. It's always "like a girl" campaign. Haven't seen it? Don't worry, here it is. 

I deal with these girls everyday. The girls who get knocked down by peers, boys, and, yes, even teachers. I have watched some of their self esteem's plummet and I've watched other's self esteem sky rocket. 
This volleyball season I want them to give it everything they have, every single game. I want their best, their 100%, their all. I want them to still feel confident even when they make a mistake. I want them to hold their heads high even if/when we lose a game. Throughout the season, I want them to grow as people, not just as athletes. I want to make them better players, better students, and better community members. 
My first step in all of these goals? Asking them to play like a girl. 

Can't wait to get started. 

The Gender Council

hey y'all. I am laying in bed today. Duck Dude assures me I am not dying.. but my sinus' are making me feel otherwise. So today, I'm choosing to use a draft that Man BFF sent me after he kind of got his feelings hurt when my bridesmaids got to write guest posts. He would be the closest thing I have to a bridesman.. So I am allowing it. Take it away Man BFF..

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Molliepocket’s (or Molz as I call her) Man BFF. After all of her future bridesmaids got to write an episode of her blog, I felt that it was only fair that I got to write one too so I have hijacked her blog for the day. Of all the topics I could talk about, ranging from the Rangers terrible baseball season to why Frozen is so much better than Tangled, I decided to talk about the most elementary of topics: Guys vs. Girls.

“Girls are from Venus and boys are from Mars.” I don’t think there has ever been a truer (solid English) statement. These two genders have passionately fought excessively over the years about really stupid stuff. I wish there was a forum where we could discuss our issues and come up with a solution…… and since I have control of Molz’s blog my dream is becoming a reality.

We will call this meeting the “Gender Council,” and both the guys and the girls will select one representative. Chuck Norris will be the chancellor of this council just in case the discussion gets too heated because he wouldn’t even need to beat a gavel for silence we would just know from his stare. I have been selected by the men and our first matter to be discussed will be wardrobe.

On behalf of all the guys: the highwaisted shorts/jeans need to be banned and burned. We honestly thought we had won the battle over the mom jeans years ago. After decades of begging and complaining we thought we had eradicated the high waisted denim movement like it was the small pox. Much to our dismay the Mom jeans started making a comeback the past couple of years (tears).

“That girl looks really good in those highwaisted jeans”….said no guy ever. I have talked to a lot of girls about this subject and every once in a while one will say, “My boyfriend/husband/fiancée says I look good in high waisted jeans.” There are really only two possible reasons why he would say this: a. he was lying and b. you look good in spite of those jeans. There is no reason for me to write anything more about point “a” because everyone lies so I will move on to point “b”. I am in no way saying that Carrie Underwood will magically turn into an Orc from Lord of the Rings if she wears mom jeans. She will still be hot but just not as hot as she would be if she didn’t wear them.

As I am sure everyone knows guys have various hotness scales to rate girls (i.e. the crazy-hott scale, area code, binary scale, etc.), the most common of which is the 1-10 scale. This scale is a highly sophisticated rating system in which a guys mind takes in all relevant quantitative and qualitative data to generate a number from 1(Uggo)-10(Smoke Show) based on the girls hotness and personality (Yes personality is included we aren’t pigs, we need her to like sports too). Although this rating system is a highly scientific process there are still multiple ways to adjust your rating for better or for worse but for this article we will focus on just the wardrobe aspect.

The following fashions are automatic -2 point adjustments:

1. Mom Jeans

2. Jumpsuits

3. Ugs with shorts/skirts

The following fashions are automatic +2 point adjustments:

1. White Pants

2. Red Dresses

3. Belly Button Rings-(This is my article so I’m allowed 1  semi-trashy one)

I am sure you are thinking, “what if I wore white high wasted Mom jeans would that be ok?” My only response would be, “you would look so much better if those were normal white pants.”

After reading the first part of this article you might be thinking that this is some kind of joke, but, believe me, this is a serious issue! If the girls refuse to extinguish this mom jeans fashion trend the guys are prepared to start bringing back the following fashion trends that girls hate:

I should have prefaced this section by saying that I am more than fine with all these fashion trends coming back because they are awesome. Cargo shorts are just practical. Girls make us hold all their stuff but want to take away the extra short pockets that we have!?!? That makes no sense.

2. Short Sleeve Dress Shirts

I live in the greatest country in America, Texas. The only problem with it is that it gets a little hot during the summer time. Nothing would make me happier than being able to wear a short sleeve dress shirt to work every day so I won’t be sweating more than a whore in church by the time I get into the office. Plus I could show off the guns.

3. Bleached Hair

Ok so yeah you called my bluff on this one. This fashion should never be brought back. No guy ever looked good with highlighted hair but yet every guy in middle school did it including yours truly. What were my parents thinking?!?!

I have presented my case before the Gender Council and am waiting for a response from the female contingent. Especially, if y’all can think of a better name for the Gender Council because the more I think about the name the lamer it sounds.

Thanks and Gig’em    

-Man BFF