Unrelated, but a quick question for pet owners!

Yes, yes, I'm waaaay behind on A to Z blogging... but I will catch up.  haha.  Right now, I need help from pet owners / future possible pet owners.

When you are choosing a veterinarian, do you prefer to choose someone based on a word of mouth recommendation or do you search for a vet using a search engine or phone book listing, etc?

My best friend is a veterinarian who is just taking over a new business, and they are making some marketing decisions.  Your answer about how you choose a vet would be really helpful!  Thanks so much!

The Great Twitter Ham-in-a-Can Incident of 2012

Alright, alright, alright.  So... I did something stupid.  I received a Direct Message from a blogger whom I hardly know, and the message had a link... and frankly, I clicked the link without even thinking about it.  I mean, it seemed legit being that it came from a blogger and said something like, "This user is saying rude things about you".  Well!  That could be REAL in the blogger world.  I was dumb, I was naive, I was in the moment ... and I clicked.

The link did nothing, I closed it.  I wrote back, "The link doesn't work, who is the user who is saying mean things?".  The reply, "That was spam, just delete it".

Oh.

Great.


D'oy!


So... well... whatever.  I didn't know what would happen exactly, and I can only get on Twitter in the evenings for the most part since I don't access the Internet too often at my day job (maybe on a recess or lunch or prep time, but that's about it).  Next thing you know... I have tons and tons of messages, @ replies, texts from personal friends, BBMs.... "CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD! YOU ARE SPAMMING ME!".

Oops.


I now feel super horrible that I wrote back to the first woman who spammed me... because... ohmigod, that was a lot of messages to sort through at once.  Yikes.  But anyway... I got home, I changed my password, I hoped it would all just go away.

Then today, "YOU ARE SPAMMING MEEE".  Eff.


So, I've come.  I've changed my password... AGAIN.  Good God, I hope this is the end of it.

I solemnly swear to never click random links again... PROMISE, PROMISE, PROMISE!!!

P.S.  If you receive a message about someone saying bad things about you... just do yourself a favour... DON'T CLICK THE LINK.

List-Making Monday: Things I Want to BLOG About

There are always so many topics I want to blog about, and then time goes by so quickly and I don't write the posts!  I'm going to be playing catch-up soon... here are a whole bunch of great things I want to write about, look out for these posts soon!

1) There was a Random Act of Kindness sort of thing in my building, it was so uplifting!

2) I made disaster cupcakes for Oscar Night -- seriously, I'm not a Sweet Genius, that's for sure.

3) Mr. Lock and I went to bottle his wine.

4) I received a gorgeous cardigan sweater courtesy of Mark's (formerly Mark's Work Wearhouse).  So excited to review it!

5) I received samples of Burt's Bees Solutions for Sensitive Skin products because I'm a BzzAgent!  Trying the face wash and day cream for the first time today -- will review it once I've tried it a few times and get a sense for it.

6) School stories -- the kids always have me laughing, and I have a few very heart-warming stories about a couple of boys in my class who are making some great progress lately.

7) My BFF Quin and her fiance, Mac, just bought their first home!  I want to share a bit about that, and my excitement for them!

8) I have a post about a storage solution tip for kitchen cupboards that I took pictures for AGES ago, and then never wrote up.

9)  I want to beg Mr. Lock to write some guest posts, possibly food posts as he is a stellar cook!  He made a great dinner for our friends on Saturday night, including a chocolate mousse for dessert -- so yummy!

10) I need to write up some book reviews for books I've been reading lately.

Okay, so there are quite a few post topics there that I need to get working on.  At least I've given you a bit of a preview!  I'll get more organized soon and get these posts up.  Then you'll be all caught up with my life lately!


I'd love to say I have some exciting post to write about the upcoming March Break, but honestly... I have no plans, haha.  Maybe catch up on a good book, and rest and relax?  Ah well, it might not make for great blog fodder but that certainly sounds lovely enough to me at this point.

Friday Blog Business: Facebook and KahootKids

Well, it's been an exciting Winter Break with the fun giveaways I've been able to take part in.  I'm so excited to be growing my blog a little more, and doing some reviews and giveaways can be really fun.  I hope that I'm also balancing enough Posts About Life though so that readers aren't bored by giveaways!  I am being conscious of what I post as much as possible to add that balance.  If you happen to see a giveaway here that you think your readers would like to take part in, feel free to link to my blog or re-tweet anything you see on Twitter.  Let's share the love!

I love blogging as a hobby, so I'm just thrilled to get back into it, to get my new pseudonym built up more so that I can continue to get out there as a blogger, but not compromise anything in my "real life".  It seems silly, right?  That I'm going a bit backwards when it seems that most bloggers are just using their real names nowadays.  The thing is, as a teacher for my day job, it just isn't something I want can do.  When you're a teacher, you are "on" 24/7 -- you have to be careful of EVERYTHING you do, because you're a mini public figure for the school you're connected with.  I work in a school of 900 students, that's more than 1800 parents or guardians who could be Googling my name.  Let alone that other teachers love to Google each other.  I don't do anything "wrong" online, but I'd just rather have my hobby just for me without needing to feel self-conscious about it.  I hope you can understand that!  Anything I post is the 100% truth, it's just with a slightly changed name behind the posts and photos that don't show my face.  That's not THAT bad.

I do want a Facebook account associated with my blog, however, because it's a better way to network and when doing product reviews they tend to like to see you on Facebook.  I will give you a link to my new Facebook account (and man, setting up Facebook is a pain, yo!).  If you'd like to Friend me, I'll Friend you back.  Not much happening there yet, but I will be associating it with my blog.

Here's the link!  I'm still fiddling around with everything, so you'll just have to bear with me a bit.  Glad to be able to network even more with any of my readers.  Do add me!

By the way, I also have my Friday post up at KahootKids.ca today.  Click here for that, it's just a good little reminder about what you should be doing with your children DAILY.  You should check out some of the other daily blog posts there, there are some great articles for parents on a variety of topics.  You can also stick around to look at the deals on the regular KahootKids.ca site.  Oh, and if you see some deals you like, then cilck to THIS POST to enter my contest -- I have a discount code for $50 that you can use at KahootKids.ca.  The contest runs until January 16th, and the discount code is good until January 31st.

Thanks for reading, everyone who is.  I'm glad to get to know you, and I hope you'll stick around.  As I've said before, I think some exciting stuff really is on its way.  Add me to Facebook too!

Your Burning Questions for a Teacher?

Hi y'all!

As you know, I'm blogging on Fridays at KahootKids.ca on the Blog Area of their deal site.  I'm writing articles from a teacher's perspective.  My audience is mostly parents.  I'm wondering -- what sorts of things are you wondering about when it comes to education?  What would you like to ask a teacher, if you could ask anything and not fear judgement (i.e. you wish you could ask your child's teacher, but feel funny about it because they're your child's teacher)?  Go ahead, ask me, honestly!

Are there educational terms that you'd like better explained?  Are you wondernig just what teachers are thinking during parent-teacher interviews?  Would you like assessment or special education or other practices explained?

I want to make sure that my articles are interesting and useful to parents, so go for it -- what are you WONDERING about education and teaching?  How can I make the topics I write about useful for YOU? 

Kahoot Kids!

I am so happy to be able to share something I've just begun, a brand new writing opportunity that I'm really excited about.  I'm a featured blogger on a new site, called KahootKids.ca .  It's a deals site, much like Groupon or similar, that is located out of the Ottawa, Ontario area but will feature daily deals nationally across Canada.

I'm going to have a post featured every Friday on the KahootKids Blog.  I'll be posting about educational topics, and there is a comments section so I do hope I'll get some good discussion going over there too!

This should help bring a bit more traffic to my personal blog as well, since I'm so eager to build this blog back up and even begin writing some reviews and hosting some giveaways!  Fun stuff is coming, I just know it!

I hope you'll come by and visit me at KahootKids.ca !  You can find the general blog by clicking this link.  You'll find me under the tag "School-Time", or just make sure to come by on Fridays (and every other day too, there is a different featured blogger each day of the week). My good friend, Multi-Testing Mommy is also blogging there, sharing great arts and crafts ideas on Thursdays!

Blog Business: Getting Started, For Reals

I'm trying to renew my focus on this blog.  Before I switched blogs, I was just about to dive into the world of reviews and networking a little more across the Internet.  Then, I felt that my other blog wasn't anonymous enough for my teaching career (I don't really need parents Googling me when I just want a fun hobby on the side), and a change had to happen.  I've had trouble with writer's block ever since that change, but I do believe I'm ready to get over that and build up a blog again.  It's going to take some work, but I'm game.

One step I've taken is to open a new Twitter account, so you can follow me on Twitter by following @MsKeyTweets .

My blog will most likely still be a bit all over the place as far as topics go.  I like sharing simply what's happening in my life, but I do also want to post more often by telling you more about products I try, movies I see, books I read, and recipes that I - HA HA HA, yeah RIGHT - that Mr. Lock cooks (I am totally not the chef in this place).  I'm going to also try to post about crafts and projects I do with the kids in my classroom, as well.  I have so many wonderful stories to share from teaching, I just need to sit down and type them out!  I'm also the Maid of Honour in Quin's wedding next September, so hopefully some fun wedding-related storise will come out of that event too!

So, I hope this will stick, and here we go!  I'm definitely feeling excited over keeping up the blog again, I just need to get at it!

So, follow, follow, follow on the ol' Twitter (@MsKeyTweets) and if you like anything I post about in upcoming posts and want to share a link to build my readership again, I would greatly appreciate it. 

I Miss This

I want to be better at blogging more regularly again.  I was so into it, and then when I made my new blog... I just seemed to have less time or less interest in blogging.  I often miss doing it, and miss participating in the blogosphere like I used to.. but then I just don't make myself come here and type.

I'm going to really try harder to be a Blogger again, though.  No one really reads my blog but me and maybe a couple of friends, but I still like to do it, and even for the records of my history for myself I plan to keep this up.

What's the update right now?  Well, let's review a few things.

Work
My grade two class this year is stellar.  They are hardworkers, and while some of them need a little extra help or attention now and then they aren't really any major behaviour problems.  Hallelujah!  Last year was a different story, so I am loving this.  Grade two is a great year to teach, the kids are just that bit more independent.  I'm finding that I've really found my love for teaching again this year, I'm feeling super passionate about it and I keep working away at new ideas for improving my program nearly every day.  I've been very on the ball about assessment and keeping up with my individual students' needs so far this school year.  It's been phenomenal, and so very busy!

Home Life
I am still loving my condo!  I am so glad I moved here.  It's just how I want it to be.  I am most likely going to email my landlord soon about renting for another year.  I am finding that I'm calling and visiting my parents back "home" a little less as I settle in to adult life living here.  We still stay in touch throughout the week and I try to see them once a week or so, but I also definitely see myself as finally more of an adult, and I think my parents do too.  It's all around going really well, and life is just how I want it to be.

Relationship
Mr. Lock is just so awesome.  We have such a nice time together.  He's a great cook, for one thing, and often comes over through the week and helps me (or just does all the work, hahaha) prepare great meals, some of which make excellent leftovers for work the next day (my favourite lunch is leftovers!).  Everything continues to go well between the two of us from my perspective, and I'm pretty sure from his as well.  Dating a best friend has turned out to be one of the smartest decisions I've ever made!

I promise to be back a little more frequently than I have been!

Welcome to my new home!

Some of you know who I am, though I am posting in a new home and under a  new alias.  I will still be "me", but I needed a new forum, and a safer, more anonymous blogging identity.  My job as a teacher makes me vulnerable to being "Googled", and my previous blog was too open to who I really was, to my real name.  I want to be able to share stories from my amazing career, so a new place was necessary to be able to do that. 

Even though yes, I was ALWAYS careful to use pseudonyms and generalities if ever writing about my students, I mostly found myself holding back from sharing heartwarming and hilarious anecdotes, because I was so afraid a parent or someone affiliated with the school system would find me by my name.  They could take the story out of context, or just generally be upset that I'd posted, so I needed to do something so that I could feel comfortable posting stories again.  I will still ALWAYS respect the code of ethics related to my profession, but sometimes kids do say the darndest things, and sharing the experiences I have, in some way, is something I really want to be able to do.

Also, as my former readers know well, my personal life went through a major transition last fall, and again since the beginning of 2011.  I feel like my old blog represented someone else, an old chapter of my life.  It was relevant and meaningful for me, of course, but also something I'm ready to move forward from.  I want to share with you stories from my new relationship, and share with you the new person I'm becoming as I'm beginning the second half of my 20s.  There are new adventures to come, and a new space to share those stories was necessary for me.

So, here I am... a New Me, but still the old me in many ways.  A new chapter, a new blog.  For those of you who do know me personally, please respect the 'anonymous' process as much as you can.  I'm going with the pseudonym "Ms. Key"; which is a name that a kindergarten student called me by mistake during a supply teaching experience last week.  I will only be using alternate names for anyone I post about (weigh in, real life friends, if you have a name you'd like me to use for you!).  Also, I'm reachable at outofgoldstars@gmail.com now, for blog-related emails.

Welcome back old friends, a warm welcome to new friends, welcome new me!  Stick around, this is a new chapter and new stories are soon to come!