Not Much Going On . . .

I went to vote. Early voting cost me 45 minutes, which I gladly gave. I was in front of a delightful 5-year-old who was amazingly well behaved. (She wasn't voting; her mom was!) I found out she is the niece of a co-worker. It's trite because it's true, but the world really is small!

I still have the picture of Susan B. Anthony in my mind ready to kick my butt if I have any negative ideas or even think about complaining about anything to do with voting.

I did my 3.5 miles today. It was slow. I was running against the wind. Wow, and dodging UPS trucks. It was actually enjoyable and fun. It really feels good getting the Monday exercise in. It's easy to fall between the cracks.

I'm tired, so it's time for bed. I'm sure there's a rant in me nearer the end of the week.

I Am Alive

I was a little frightened after my max mileage that I'd be really sore and tired today. Well, I'm happy to report the only casualties of my run yesterday were my calves. Oh, how they hurt!

I got up this morning and went to WalMart. And filled up the car. Less than $2.50 a gallon?!? So nice. At WalMart, people seem to stand in places for no apparent reason. I wanted to check out the pre-packaged snacks, but there was a lady standing there on the phone. I have a real problem with this. She was just standing there cackling at her friend's obviously hysterical conversation. She didn't even seem to be looking for anything. She also seemed to be hard of hearing or very intent on letting everyone know how much she was enjoying her conversation. How is it that several years ago, heart surgeons had beepers and that would suffice? Now we all need a phone. I plead guilty to this. Regardless, when I'm in public, I go outside of the business to conduct my business. Or, I will text people. It's far less intrusive in others' lives. Regardless, if this is my biggest problem, my life is AWESOME.

And it is. I just made a chili-esque soup. I put a little ground beef, tomato paste, petite diced tomatoes, beef broth, black beans, navy beans, white corn, and a ton of chili powder, cayenne pepper, and onion powder in to simmer. I can't wait. It's gonna be deilicious and, along with a pasta casserole, the bulk of my meals this week! Yum!

Well, since I slept with some of my cooler season clothes on my bed last night, I'd better go put some of these up.

Have a great day!

I Am So Excited!

Okay, if you'd told me last year, I'd have had difficulty believing you. TODAY I RAN 6 (SIX) MILES! It took almost an hour and a half, but I did it! I decided that I could run a little more than my max, and since it was Saturday, and since I gained 0.4 pounds this week! Ugh! (Darn my friend Brian's mac and cheese! Not only did I eat it for dinner Thursday, but they made me a to-go plate for lunch Friday, and I would not say NO.) So, instead of balling up and getting sad, I decided I would do something proactive. Get myself into the right mode of eating and do some excellent workout work. And I did.

This running thing is so addicting. My friend Snoopy signed Fiona and me up for the 5K bridge run in December. Fiona declared that she will walk it. Snoopy is going to do the 10K. I'm very excited about this. The bridge has a 5.5% grade, so I'll be practicing at Mrs. C.'s on the treadmill with the incline cranked!

I think I'm going to pile up and go to bed. Running 6 miles is tiring!

Art and Old Music

Check this out. It's macabre, but it's actually very pretty: http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/david-maisel-library-of-dust/.



Also, I hopped in the way-back machine today. I put this in my CD player on the way to work:



Oh yes, I remember when I was in about the second grade. My parents had this album. It was one of the first albums I remember. I listened to "Back Home Again," "On the Road," the AWESOME "Grandma's Feather Bed," and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy." I LOVED it. I sang at the top of my lungs. I got in the car to come home and repeated. If it's good enough for lather, rinse, it's certainly good enough for John Denver!



Incidentally, the other albums my parents had at this time:

I must admit "His Latest Flame" is one of my favorites from this one.

I remember listening to "Scarborough Fair" and thinking, "How can they be singing something I had to sing in music class?" Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme? Really? Anyway, "The Boxer," "America," and "Homeward Bound" are all songs that can make me cry.


There's not a bad song on this one. Maybe there are some that are SAPPY, but I like them all.
Goodbye to Love, Superstar

I really like this one. "Southern Nights" and "Country Boy" are the two besides the title song that make me really happy. "Country Boy" is really good. Rhinestone Cowboy

Thanks for indulging my walk down pop music lane.

Rant Alert

Flipping through the channels on the satellite, there is a channel that is running a commercial of a guy made of chocolate that has women biting his butt, tearing off his arm, and dipping strawberries in his navel (or somewhere). REGARDLESS, this is very disturbing. It's for Axe "Dark Temptation." The commercial is running over and over and over and over. You can text to win prizes and play some kind of game. This is disturbing and gross. I realize I'm obviously not the target of this marketing campaign, but who is? The female Hannibal Lecters out there? Help, oh sweet sanity, where have you gone?

Thinking. . .

I like this blogger's posts. She's very good. This post was particularly interesting to me. I like to read people's work that makes me think from a different perspective. Here is the post: http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/10/classic-eating-disorder-tips-make.html.



I never have thought of myself as having an eating disorder, but I guess by being obese, I do. I don't think it's as extreme as anorexia or bulimia, but it's still an attack on my body and wielding power over food.


I am trying to work through some issues. It's a constant struggle. It's weird though, because I don't feel as if I'm in that bad of a way. I've often said that I have reverse anorexia because I don't mentally realize how big I really am. It's kind of like when you've had long hair and get your hair cut and see yourself in the mirror. You keep thinking, "Hey who's that in my bathroom mirror? Oh wait, that's me with my short hair." I'm still around a size 12 or 14 in my mind. It's weird, I suppose. I guess we all have our deals to work out. That, in a nutshell is PART of mine!

Blessed Bloggers

Well, I had an exceedingly good day today. It's kind of funny because my the bloggers I tend to read seem to have had the same experience this weekend!

Today I got up around 8:30. It was nice and nippy outside. I decided to snuggle in my bed a little longer. I actually got up around 9:00 and got to the laundry. I put up WAY too much that had been laying around my bedroom. I then had a nice brunch.

After finishing up my laundry, I took a small nap, watched some football, and decided to go run. It was a glorious day for a run. I went 4.8 miles. That's quite a bit for me. What's funny, and more than a little gross, is that my back was KILLING me. Well, then I engaged my core, as Ellen from my yoga/Pilates video is always telling me to do and voila! My back stopped hurting. I was telling this to my running mentor and she said that since I've lost weight around my midsction, my back is having to redefine my center of gravity or something like that. And you know what? I believe it. It makes sense.

Since I'd not had lunch, I was ravenous from the run and met the mentor (aka Snoopy) at the Mexican restaurant in the town where my school is. Wow, was it good! I had a plate of beef and bean nachos without one iota of guilt. Then I went to school and got a good bit of school work done. We have an open house tomorrow, OH JOY! I'm SO excited. I don't know about elsewhere, but here, only the kids whose parents you DON'T need to see attend these things.

Oh well, you do what you can.

I hope all of y'all in blogland have a most enjoyable week to go along with a nice weekend!

A Wedding Day

The Child with one of his dad's sisters in the background

There is a nice winery near here. They aren't common in the area, but it's quite nice. The Child's daddy was married there today. It was very small, but nice. The crowd was really a good group. I'm not big on talking to people I don't know, since I hate people. Well, not really, but in a group of people I don't know I'm not a social butterfly. It was very nice. The ceremony itself was pretty good: short, sweet, and to the point. The bride and groom left to the Beach Boys song, "Wouldn't It Be Nice."

There was lunch, since the wedding was at 11:00. Grilled bone-in chicken, hash brown casserole, green beans, and broccoli salad. Yum!

The Child was ring bearer and walked in his grandmother. He kept dropping the pillow, but it was very cute.

Since it was a blustery day, I came home and piled up in bed and slept. It's been a great day.

Oh, and at weigh-in I'd lost 2.4. I was slightly ill, because I thought I'd done a little better. But I'm proud of the work I did! Now, a tiny supper.

Days Off Are Over

Hey, I have been really enjoying all of this time off. It was only two days, but it's been nice. I went and saw the other nephew yesterday. He's grown so much. He's shed that little baby look. He's still got quite a mean widow's peak, so he's ready for halloween. Did I mention that he loves to play the act-as-if-you're-tossing-the-baby-in-the-air game? It's a good thing I do too!

I did the Crunch yoga/Pilates video again and ran 3.05 miles. It was really a nice day out.

I'm trying to reach a milestone on Saturday at weigh-in. 20 pounds. I really would like to do this during this week. I've done the working out and the eating has been pretty good. I've got to go get my lunch ready for tomorrow. It's called lunchroom duty and I have it and I hate it. It could be worse, but it's just a pain.

Now, I'm off to fix lunch, watch the rest of Eli Stone, and get my things ready for tomorrow.

Teacher Person Makes Good Use of Time

Well, how did I do this? It was easy. I used the DVD

This is a great one. I don't know how this would be for anyone who is super-fit, but for me, it's great. It is difficult, but not too much so. Are you a person who hates way-too-perky teachers/demonstraters? Ellen Barrett is GREAT! I really like the way she describes each motion. It's not difficult nor dancy. She is encouraging without seeming as if she's ingested 18 venti lattes. I met Mrs. C. at her "gym" and we did this at 6 a.m. It was refreshing and relaxing. It's 42 minutes (or thereabout) and very good. I know I'll feel it, because I've done it before.

I just had a heavy breakfast. A boiled egg, a homemade mocha (chocolate milk + coffee), and oatmeal with Smart Balance and brown sugar. I'm testing a theory/study from, I think, FitSugar. The study showed that if you eat a really big breakfast, as the day goes on, you won't have as many cravings and you'll eat fewer calories. I'm considering myself a test case. I'm going to try to not eat anything after 7 p.m. either. Watch me go! I really need a good week at Weight Watchers on Saturday, so my goal is to do stuff that will make that possible.

Have an enjoyable day!

Sunday and a Little Shopping

I bought a shoe that looks like this. It's not only cute, but it's got a super-pillowy footbed. Perfect for a teacher. I'd been avoiding my black pants, skirts, and dresses simply because I didn't have a go-to pair of black shoes. The flower on mine is about half the size and there is some black-patent trim. I had even resorted to wearing some tennis shoes/sneakers with my black pants. I hope that I have now purchased a pair that I will look forward to wearing. And, they were on sale!

I went and worked out at Mrs. C.'s gym yesterday. I'm still getting acclimated to the treadmill. I walked for an hour with a tad of running in it. It's weird that outside that I can run pretty easily, but on the treadmill, not so much.

Well, since we have two days off this week, I think I'm going to visit my other nephew. I can't wait to see how big he is. He lives about two hours away and I'll get to see the 'rents too.

Later.

Homecoming

Hi! Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, but anyway, here I am! It's been an exciting few days. Yesterday was homecoming for my school. It's one of the high points for teaching high school. The kids were really excited. They were really good. We had a court which was ALL really nice girls. In years past, we've had some that I really would have rather not won, but this year, all were okay.

I drove a tiny Solstice in the parade with two senior representatives up doing the pageant waving. I told them that the last time that I drove, one of the girls in my car had won. Well, there's magic in my driving, because again, the queen was in my car! She is a really nice girl who's not only very cute, but very conscientious in her studies and just an all-around good representative of our school. Her boyfriend, who graduated last year, asked me to drive carefully with her in the car. I assured him that we'd go no faster than about 8 mph, so she'd be pretty safe!

Our football team WON! We've won more this year than any year I've been at the school with the exception of my 1st year during which I had NO idea what was going on.

I haven't run since Sunday. I've gotta get back out there. Ugh, I don't really want to. It's yucky outside. I think I'll power nap first.

Oh, How We Laughed!

Well, in the class that I had my unfortunate outburst in, we had a hearty laugh today. I apologized again for going a little nuts. They were very good and seemed to understand. "Miss (used to refer to all but men, so much so that I use it to refer to other teachers), I never saw you that mad before. You almost poked a hole in your Smartboard!" I laughed. They were talking about how weird it was that I got so mad yesterday, but that I was laughing about it today. I told them that everybody acts like an idiot from time to time and if you can't laugh at it, well, you're missing out on a good laugh!

To me, I'm teaching trig, but more importantly, I'm trying to equip these kids for life. And that's what's REALLY important.

The Child has been going through this whine-mania thing. He will just commence to whining when he doesn't get his way. Oh, awesome it is!

Gonna run a little later . . . maybe?

Today I Had a Nervous Breakdown in Class (Essentially)

Apathy is what I'm used to. People not studying, absolutely. But today a student told me that he had never seen or heard the term cube root. He became somewhat belligerent about it and I became somewhat belligerent about it. I tried to give him an out, "I know that you may not remember, but that doesn't mean that you didn't see it in Algebra I or II." He declared that he'd NEVER seen it. I then explained for about the fifth time what it meant. I had others who told me later that they didn't remember, but that after the examples they were on board (perhaps on "bored" would be more accurate, no?). Wow, I hate it when I get like that. Kids are supposed to be like that, but I just lost it.

On a good note, I went to Mrs. C.'s exercise room to do my workout today. She has a Health Rider. I did a little reading on line and it's not the best workout either, but since I've got quite a way to go, it will work for now. It is also a good thing to do on non-running days.

Tired and the lady who does grades wants them sooner and sooner and sooner. I love her, but the teacher work day is Friday and she wants the grades tomorrow. Good luck with that. I don't do it to be a pill, I'm just not through yet.

Yes, I am a big ball of complaints. I do realize that I really, in the great scheme of things REALLY have it good, so I'll shut my yap.

I Am a Marinating Fool

I've got three different meats marinating in the fridge right now. Salmon in tequila-lime, pork chops in mesquite, and chicken in garlic-tomato-basil. I also was suckered in and bought one of those cheapish Reynolds air-sucker-outers. I have a friend who has the big, ornate atomic sucker outer that requires special plastic, etc., but I don't require that big of a deal. I thought that $10 was a pretty fair price to pay for seeing if it'd work. I smacked the chicken around a little with the meat-hammer, as I am fond of calling it. The other meat seemed okay without it.

It's about time to start cooking, so I'll holla back when I'm done. Later, tater!

Edit: 6:26 p.m. I have George-Foreman grilled myself into a frenzy. Verdict: The mesquite on the pork chops is just pretty much added salt and smoke flavor. Won't do that again. The garlic-tomato-basil is pretty garlicky, so it's not my favorite. It's still pretty good. I didn't try any of the salmon. I'm going to surprise myself with that tomorrow at school. All of these marinades started out in powder form. I chose them because all the pre-made ones have high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient?!? This has driven me to the conclusion that I need to buy some spices at the local gourmet shop and make my own marinade. This will be a project for next week, since my meat situation for the week is settled!


A REALLY GOOD WAY TO WASTE VALUABLE TIME Okay, I'm not sure how I navigated to this page, but this listing of the top 100 of the past 50 years by Billboard Magazine is mesmerizing. Stevie B. really is a good singer. I hadn't thought of him in years. Also, John Lennon's "Starting Over" is pure genius. I remember hating it every time it came on the radio, but then again, I was around 11 at the time. Look through the list in descending order. I started at #1 and actually enjoyed the latter ones more than the top ones. There are some CrAzY ones in the list, but my sister and I took a walk down memory lane with it. Some of the ones that don't have a YouTube link actually are on YouTube, if you're interested.


Going to go finish my day. I've got to go work out. Mrs. C. has furnished a gym at her house that is open 24/7, so it's convenient for me . . . and cheaper than my current one.


May you all have an excellent week.

Shalom!

Edit: 9:43 p.m. It seems as if it's about 1 a.m. I still haven't done my lesson plans. I have been foraging like a bear going into hibernation. I've tried tea, water, and chocolate and "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." (Apologies to Bono and the boys. Incidentally, why does he wear windshield-style sunglasses? I don't understand this.) Ugh, I hate it when I'm in this mood/mode. I'm gonna wash some delicates and see if that helps.

'Night again.

Turpentine

Well, I was in the Turpentine Festival Run, the inaugural edition this morning. It was a very nice course. A little hilly in places (This is hilly for south Georgia, which pretty much means not flat.) , but not too bad. I had a personal best! After not running all week, I managed to finish just under 45 minutes. I finished second in my age. Did I say there were two of us? I also got some turpentine and some rosin! Yay for me. (Call Charlie Daniels and tell him I'm ready to help him rosin up his bow!) I'm going to do another run in a couple of weeks, so I've gotta make sure to do my running in the next couple of weeks.


We have a work day next Friday, since it's homecoming and the end of the nine weeks. Since I have perfect attendance, I can leave at 12:30. Hooray, only I have to stick around to drive some of the homecoming court gals in the parade. And go to the game. Oh well, it was a nice offer.


I finally got the car tire situation under control today. The alignment was done today on the FOUR new tires. Ow, that really hurt. But I have a sporty car and it takes money to keep up the appearance, you know. Well, now if I can just get the short in the radio taken care of, I'll have it under control.


Okay, just so you know, I dropped the car off at the tire place and hopped a ride with Snoopy. We went to the run. She ran in about 30, which was slow for her. I know, right? We then got our prizes. We then hopped in the car, picked up my car, and hopped over to IHOP. I had an EGG-CELENT omelette filled with Swiss cheese, spinach, and mushrooms. Yummy. And, of course, pancakes. There was a short trip to WalMart and then I came home. A little Game Day, a little lunch, and then a BIG nap.


I've had a great day to be capped with washing of clothes and grading of papers. AWESOME!