Queen Jen's Gems

Ahh...summertime 😊. A time when people are on break from school and college, going on vacation, getting caught up on things they haven't done yet or simply soaking up the sun. For some, it may be your favorite season. For others, maybe not so much. I love summers for the break and beach days. My favorite season however is spring. I love the weather! But, I also love that new life blooms in spring. To me, it symbolizes new hope and new beginnings. In any season, new beginnings can happen though😊. With thinking about new beginnings, I want to talk to you today about adventures. When we look at the definition of adventure, it is defined as an exciting experience that is usually bold and even risky. In researching online for activities that can be considered adventures, I saw traveling, sky diving, mountain climbing, exploring and scuba diving among others. These are definitely activities that involve being bold and taking risks. Some of you may have done some, all or none of these a...

 Accept or decline? Most of us see these two buttons when a call comes on our cell phone. The accept button is green and the decline button is red. In the terms of the traffic lights, green is associated with go and red is associated with stopping. When we see a phone call come through, we have two choices. We can either accept or decline the call. In other words, we can answer the call or not answer the call. If you have caller ID, the name and phone number will appear. If they are in your contact list on your cell phone, their name (person or organization) will show. If it's a spam call, it will usually be labeled as potential spam. Oh the beauty of caller ID 😀! The caller ID allows us to see who wants our attention on the other side of the call. Then, there are the times when someone will call you and you don't recognize the phone number. It could be someone you know that is not in your contacts or they are using someone else's phone. They could have also gotten a new n...

 In our technology driven world, it is essential that our electronic devices stay charged up. Most people charge their devices at least once or more throughout the day. The lower the battery percentage, the slower your device may operate. We can use our device for a certain time without being plugged in, but eventually, we will need to plug it in again. In my homeroom class at school this past year, there was a laptop cart where students could put their Chromebooks at the end of each day. The computers would be able to charge overnight and then be all ready for the students the following day. You see, the big cords from the cart was plugged into the wall socket, but the students still had to plug in individual chargers to their computer. If not, the computer would just sit there and not be powered up. At the end of the day, I would always check the cart to make sure chargers were plugged into computers. Some computers had not been used much, so it wasn't a huge problem. However, so...

 On a scale of 1 to 10, how well are you taking care of your physical body? A score of 10 represents excellent and a 1 represents not at all. Would you rate yourself a 1, 10 or somewhere in between? I'm not a 1 or a 10, but I would fall somewhere around a 7. My rating is a lot higher now than it used to be as I am learning more of the importance of taking care of me. I am thankful for that 💖! We all have to take a honest reflection of areas we need to work on. For example, I know I need to work on getting 7- 8 hours a sleep each night. I know it's not consistent, but I'm working towards that goal 👏. Getting a certain number of hours and proper rest is one way we can physically take care of our bodies. We also take care of our physical bodies by drinking water, eating healthy food, limiting junk food and sweets, brushing and flossing our teeth and exercising regularly. All of these factors are choices that an individual makes. We choose what time we go to bed, what foods w...

What do you enjoy? What gets you excited? What puts a smile on your face every time you think about it? Your answers to these questions are a strong indication of things you love. Now, there are many definitions of love, but there is a particular definition I want to focus on for today. Today’s definition about love I want to focus on is about doing something with a strong enthusiasm. Being enthusiastic shows excitement. We usually get excited about something we love. What gets you excited may have started in your childhood or later in life as a teenager, young adult, or adult. Something I love to do is write 😀! My love for writing stories started when I was a child in my upper elementary/ middle school years. I was quiet in school and still am in ways, but once I get to know you, I do open up more. Teaching and speaking in front of people more has helped me build my confidence of public speaking. Writing was a great way to express myself (it still is!) and to encourage others. I did ...

It’s fun. It’s simple. It requires you to think and focus on the questions being asked. After careful consideration, you must choose wisely your response. It’s a game that’s easy to play anywhere and by all ages. At this point, you may be wondering about what game I am talking about. I am talking about none other than “Would You Rather?” Yes, the title of this blog post is the name of the game! My students absolutely love this game 😀! At the mention of this game, many of them smile and light up at the thought of playing. It makes them so happy. This makes me happy too! When my students play this game in my classroom, they physically move and choose a side of the room to stand on based on their answer. You see, the game consists of a series of questions being asked where players decide between 2 choices presented to them. For example, players may be asked questions such as, “Would you rather live at the beach or in the mountains?” or “Would you rather be an only child or have 10 siblin...

We all have twenty four hours in our day. In that day, we eat, sleep, work, go to school and run errands. Each day may look different, but the day usually involves two components: doing some task and interacting with others.  The task needed could be around the house, at school or work, going to an appointment or taking care of other business. The interaction with others may be face-to-face, online, on the phone, or through email or text. Even though we have 24 hours in a day, it doesn't mean we need to schedule something every minute of the day. We need to go to sleep and rest at some point in our day. When we are up and not sleeping, we don't need to be available to everything and everyone around us. Being available to everyone and everything is exhausting and mentally and physically tiring . When something or someone is available, it means it is at hand and accessible. When something is accessible, it is easily approached or entered. We can all relate to not being avai...