Mental Health Day?

I have a doctor's appointment today so I took a "mental" health day. So far I have been drinking coffee and e-mailing people at work.
THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO BE DOING ON A MENTAL HEALTH DAY!
Look, I can see if I was Rachel Zoe and got paid millions of dollars to dress celebrities and I just breathed, lived, ate my work, you know, because I MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WAS FAMOUS.
But somehow, the fact that I need to get on my school e-mail at 8:30 in the morning when no one gives a piss where I am and I won't see six figures in my salary unless I start adding in the thousandth point (behind the decimal is what I mean for all you math people) makes me think I should probably take this mental health day seriously.
In work news, because I have to get it off my extremely flat chest, we are giving tests this week to measure how much our students have learned in the first trimester. I am enjoying (NOT) watching us all run around like our heads are cut off examining the tests now and exclaiming: "Well what the eff? THAT wasn't on the learning targets! Why is there a question on THAT?"
Two days before the test.
OHHHHHHH...you bet your sweet little patooties that behind the closed doors at my school today teachers are FEVERISHLY cramming information down the throats of students like Will feeding Keegan his green beans.
"No Daddy! I am tired of eating!"
"Two more! Just two more! Stormtroopers eat all their green beans!"
"Stormtroopers don't have teeth!"
God he is so smart! I LOVE that boy!
Anyway, I personally think it is the measure of an EXCELLENT teacher if you can cram and jam information into 12 year old's heads long enough for them to take the test, make yourself look like "supreme teacher" and then let all those jumbled facts fall out of their heads as they are leaving the room after the test! Great teaching everybody! Whoever came up with this idea is BRILLIANT!
So in any case, you can see that my students are taking the test as is, and when they haul me away to "bad teacher jail" at least I can say: Ask them if they can write a complete sentence with compound subjects and helping verbs! Oh and adjectives! They know adjectives!"
But it isn't on the test, so again, I am a bad teacher.
Truly, in my heart, I believe, like every initiative in my district, it will fall away to the next district initiative when they hire someone else to take the place of the someone else who took the place of....you get my point. In the meantime, it is making for some really good writing material and some EXCELLENT happy hour book titles!

Okay on to more fun things!
Maren Vada might be the sweetest baby on the earth and I am not exactly sure where she came from because I didn't think that I would get two sweet children. This must mean that Will and I are doing something right. Either that or they have really good daycare.
In any case, she is sleeping through the night, gobbling bananas and cereal and LOVING listening to books and playing with her brother.
I am so excited for her first Christmas! I am so excited for her first everything (pretty much) and now that we have settled in as much as we can to having two, it is so fun to watch them together. I am looking forward to every stage. Okay, I am not going to lie: I am ready for her to sit up on her own. We keep practicing, but she topples over like a weeble-wobble after about 24 seconds. (I timed the other day.)
Thanksgiving is a week away and I know my mom is already panicking because I always leave everything until the last minute. I do not get stressed about Thanksgiving dinner. Here's why: IT'S THE SAME DINNER EVERY YEAR!
It is not like I am cooking veal Marsala for the President of the United States for the first time in my life.
I AM MAKING THE SAME DAMN TURKEY I MAKE EVERY YEAR!
But this year, in order to make her happier, I vow to go over the weekend and get everything we need instead of waiting until Tuesday night when the turkey should already be thawed out. Ooops.
And I may even buy my own hand mixer this year so my mom doesn't have to bring hers.
Look, I do not NEED a hand mixer for anything I cook. I just stir really fast.
The only time I ever need it is for making homemade mashed potatoes and I ONLY do this (oh let's be honest, SHE only does this) when she comes to my house for Thanksgiving.
You know if it were up to me, we would be eating the kind out of the box.
1. Will and Keegan could care less. They love any kind of mashed potatoes: real or imagined.
2. I barely eat mashed potatoes.
3. If Thanksgiving dinner could just be wine and cheese, I'd be a whole lot happier.
But, to really impress my mom and make her see that yes, her 38 year old daughter has really got her sh*t together hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha
I am going to be on TOP of this Thanksgiving meal this year!
Complete with the salad recipe below: (good segue)

1 bag lettuce (use whatever you like or cut up your own head of lettuce if you have the time-hahahahahahahaha)
1/2 cup of Craisins
1/2 cup of Gorgonzola Cheese Crumbles ( I end up using more than that but I LOVE cheese)
1 small bag Walnuts
Shredded carrots (if you get the bag of lettuce with carrots, you have saved yourself some work! But that lettuce isn't as good as say, butter lettuce)
Kraft Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing (Light) Or go for Full-it's up to you. I just like to save my calories for wine.

My mom rinses and spins her lettuce, even the bag kind. I TRY to do this, but if Keegan is pulling at me to play puzzles and Maren is screaming for bananas then screw it, no rinsing
Place lettuce rinsed or unrinsed in large bowl
Top with craisins
Carrots
Gorgonzola Cheese
Walnuts
Douse with dressing. You choose how much!
TOSS!!!

I think you should eyeball your ingredients. Some people like more nuts, some people like less. If you come from my family, you like more..hahahaha! Just a little joke! Okay. So there's an easy salad and you could always add more stuff: cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. I just like it simple though.
Hard to believe I am sure!