The Date Jar

I love TJ, but he's not always the best at coming up with stuff for us to do when I visit him.  I told him that I want to have an adventure when I visit this coming weekend, but he just asked me what I wanted to do.  I get a little frustrated with his lack of creativity sometimes.  It's not really fair to him for me to get annoyed with that so....I made him a date jar.  I had seen them on Pinterest before but hadn't given it much serious thought until now.  I decided to help relieve my frustration and to help him with coming up with dates, the date jar was a great idea.  
That's why I cleaned out that candle jar.  I wrote a bunch of date ideas on a couple of pieces of notebook paper.  I put things that we both like to do like bowling, dinner and a movie, and playing board games.  I put things just for me, such as for him to cook me dinner and eating by candlelight and going out to a play.  Some of my just for TJ ideas were playing Xbox together and going to the driving range.  There were stay at home ideas, going out ideas, outdoors ideas, free, cheap and a little more expensive ideas.  
Just to full up space and show him how I feel about him, I also included little notes for TJ.  "I love you." "You're amazing."  The normal stuff we say to each other but I thought would be fun for him to find in his new jar!
I hope our date jar helps us both with our dates and bringing us more fun. 

P.S.  Some of my favorite ideas were: 
- Go out to a restaurant we've never tried
- Cuddle for an Hour
- Hot Tub by candlelight
- go to a store and try on silly clothes that we pick for each other
- DIY photo shoot
- Go to a bar and try beers we've never had
 

Cleaning out a Candle Jar

So I had a Yankee Candle jar, in which the candle was pretty much all burned up.  I decided to use it for another little project, therefore needing to clean out the jar.  I boiled a small pot of water and poured the water into the jar.  The remaining candle was instantly started melting and floating to the top. 
While I waited for it to melt, I wondered about the best way to remove the wax.  If it hardened before I poured it out, I wouldn't be able to get it out.  So I set up a plastic container with some wax paper lining it.  Before the wax dried, I poured the wax and water into the container.  Then, I waited for the wax to harden.  When I was hard enough for me to just pick up with my hands, I took the wax out of the container and set it on a paper plate to finish drying.  I poured the water out of the container and just threw away the wax paper, leaving no mess on the container. 
The candle wax hardened into a large rectangle.  After work today I cut into small chunks and put them in a ziploc bag.  Now, we can continue to enjoy the scent using our Scentsy warmer. 

Don't Be A Brick

I am a 2nd grade teacher assistant.  I often find myself wanting to correct students and get them to do their work like all the other students do and like I think they should. TJ's favorite band is Pink Floyd.  Their song "The Wall" is becoming something I think of whenever I want to make students do things normally.  They should do things correctly but it doesn't need to be a cookie cutter and all look alike.  I don't want to be "another brick in the wall" preventing students from being creative.  We tell children to be creative but then fuss at them when it doesn't look the way we think it should.  Did Picasso and DaVinci receive such criticisms?  What if they has listened to them and stopped being themselves?  I don't want to wall children off from their creative selves.  I don't want to contribute to a "mind controlled" generation.  So when I come across a different kind of picture or story instead of fussing I tell myself to not be a brick.  Let the children be their creative selves and maybe someday I'll have helped foster a brilliant artist or architect.

Just a quick overview of where i am in life.  I am a teacher assistant at my own old elementary school.  I have a degree and teaching license but not enough experience.  I live with my parents.  It has it perks but little privacy.  I have a wonderful boyfriend but he lives over 100 miles away and is currently unemployed.  Sounds like things suck right?  Actually, I'm pretty happy.  Do I want to get a teaching job, get my own place, and marry Mr. Right (actually Mr. Powers)?  Absolutely!  However, always wishing I was in the future won't do me much good.  I need to be happy with where I am and what I'm doing now.  Always wishing you were somewhere else doesn't make anyone happy.