Twice in One Week

Who knew? I suppose I'm feeling kind of bloggy this week. I have had a very restful day. I got breakfast at the little dinerette, now serving locally produced eggs. Veggie omelette was super tasty today.

Then I watched a little Gordon Ramsey on the BBC, as I napped/watched.

Then I took a completely unearned nap.

I got up and went to elliptical machine.

I'm thinking about sauteeing a "mess" of squash that the construction teacher from school grew.

I feel splendid. Hope the same is true for you!

One Week Down!

Well, this week has certainly been busy. Getting back to work was more tiring than I wanted it to be, but because I did my workouts last week, the standing and walking has been a BREEZE! I have to stand outside in the mornings and have had to walk while patrolling the cafeteria at lunch. This is in addition to walking the room for regular, routine teaching stuff.

May classes are, as I thought they would be, GREAT. I have two really small classes and one big, but well-behaved class. I've focused on prerequisite skills this week and it's gone great. I think I'm going to do this as a routine going forward.

I have done something everyday but Thursday. At least thirty minutes. Since the big game (college football is over, sniff) was last night, I was good with skipping the workout. And I did get back on it today. St. Tebow won, with help from his boys who, I think, were inflamed by the comments of the maroon from Oklahoma, essentially that Tebow would be the fourth best quarterback in their conference. I think they proved he'd be third at worst! Why would you give bulletin board material to the folks who have a close-to-perfect dude for their captain? He is an amazing person, even if you don't think his football ability has merit. I mean missionary trips to the Philippines (or somewhere, I may have just sent him to another country), are you kidding me?

Happy weekend!

Well, I'm on a Roll for a Monday

Well, I got up before six and met Hippy at the gym today. I'm glad we'd prearranged this yesterday or I certainly don't think I'd have gotten out of bed. The CrackBerry woke me up at 5:30.

Then I went to see what wondermousness was available at the local WalMart. I can't remember the last time I actually went and bought a bunch of groceries. I bought some salmon burgers. What is that really? I'll be sure to alert y'all, because I feel as if that's something that needs to get out there. Actually, I was wanting salmon and that's what I found. The fish market deal wasn't open yet. I thought it was interesting enough to try. I also stocked up on healthier things as well as some interesting peanut butter, or should it be peanut better? It has ground flax seeds, flax oil, and is sweetened with cane sugar and honey. I got out for less than $100. BONUS!

Yesterday my sister went to our local Lowe's. She was getting a storage cabinet. (Sidebar: She was first cussed (no, not cursed) for taking a parking space. The guy had no blinker on nor any other indication of his intention of pulling in the space. She got out and then APOLOGIZED. The guy told her, "Shut the f*#$ up." Did I mention that she had just come from church? Did I mention this dude was also in his Sunday finery?!? What WOULD Jesus do? I don't think he'd tell people to shut the f*#$ up. I don't mean to step out or anything, but I feel pretty safe in saying that.) Well anyway, she survived that lovely guy and went in, found her item of choice, bought it, and then took it to her car. Realizing it was going to be too big to fit in the car in the way it was boxed, she opened it up and part of it was broken. Well, as you might imagine, she loaded it back up in the box and took it back in. Since it wasn't her fault, she suggested that they go get another one for her or give her back her money. The cashier guy looked at her and just processed her refund! Not I'm sorry, not let me call somebody, NOTHING. Well, I'm sure this one transaction isn't going to bring down Lowe's or anything, but for crying out loud! What a loser. She then went to K-Mart and purchased two items for even less. Wonder why the economy is bad? Maybe one of the reasons is that people working at retail don't give a rat's a$$ about anything. I'm glad that a person of this ilk is at the cashier stand at Lowe's and not at a hospital or something, but come on!

How about I'm going to the school today and tomorrow to try and get things in order for the new semester? I'm secretly very excited. My classes, unless something has changed, will be calculus, Algebra II, and trig. That's the best schedule I think I've ever had. I'm geeked out and very fortunate. I have planning at third block, so three out of four weeks of the month, I get an additional thirty minutes a day because it's the lunch period. Did I say I'm geeked out?

Well, I probably will go drop in on Snoopy after doing a little work.

Happy Monday!

Edit: 8:41 p.m. The Lowe's thing is apparently policy. For Lowe's to get credit for the bad piece of shiz, they have to run it as a refund. Too bad the person couldn't be more forward-thinking and said, "I'll process the refund, it's our policy. Then I'll call Joe and see if he can go get you another one." Am I crazy? Well, customer service being what it is, I guess I. My sister had the opportunity to talk to a former Lowe's employee to get the low-down.

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!

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.

Tuesday

I am still on my workout regimen. I've had two really good days. Yesterday I ran 4.1 and today 2.96. It's very addicting. I'm liking the old endorphin kick. And, I KNOW there are people running it to death. My friend Snoopy runs ten miles in a clip routinely. Wowsers and props to her. But for me, a proverbial infant in the running world, I am liking what I'm doing.


The car is still AWESOME. And the gas mileage . . . INSANE! Over 30 mpg!!! Can it get any better?!?


Dude, who left and went to France, is back! I'm going to have a lovely dinner with him tomorrow. I can't wait to hear all about his escapades on the continent.


I am rambling. I am tired, but for some strange reason, I'm not getting up to go to bed.

Peace out!

I Have Worn Myself OUT!

Okay, maybe it's because I ate my allowed hotdog (+ 1 weenie) last night at the concession stand, or maybe it's just because I was tired, but the elliptical almost KILLED me. Then I went to the BodyPump at 2:30.

I came home and hunkered down with some black-eyed peas and brown rice with a side of some sassy collard greens. YUM!

I am tired. I'm going to go rest.

Tomorrow is the first day back with students. I'm excited and annoyed.

Okay, I Feel Awesome!

How good is a day when you get up, get things done, and can do what you want the rest of the day?!? Yes!

Last night Mrs. C. dragged me, most unwillingly, to the gym. I KNEW I needed to go, but it's one of those things. I'm NOT in a gym mood until I get there. I did a Debbie workout. Debbie is a trainer who I worked with. How awesome she was! She knew exactly how much to push me, without killing me. Debbie's husband, however, moved on to work at a university in the Atlanta area. I have been teetering on the edge of quitting the gym, were it not for my AWESOME friends, Mrs. C. and Hippy Chick.

MORE THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR :

20. Living in a country in which I can speak my mind without having aforementioned mind splattered on a wall beside me (Sadaam Hussein-style)

21. The right to vote

22. Friends who will drop-kick me into going to the gym

23. Cooking for Thanksgiving!

24. Good recipes on the internet

25. An extended-family that is very supportive, despite being insane

26. A sister who is an EXCELLENT cook

27. A daddy who would do almost anything for me and my siblings

28. A momma who is probably the sweetest person I know (maybe her momma was sweeter? maybe?)

29. A brother who served in Iraq and who has chosen to serve us here in law enforcement back here

30. The older gentleman I saw at Wal*Mart (that #$%^ place) who had on a "Retired U.S. Navy" cap. (I thanked him for his service and I almost burst into tears. After watching a lot of Ken Burns' The War, I can't NOT thank anybody I know is a veteran.)

31. A number of friends who are always game for coffee

32. Turkey breast!

33. Giblet-less gravy

Not much is going on here and I am glad.

Well, yesterday was a pretty boring day. That is perfectly good day as far as I'm concerned.

It's T-13 for me. We start pre-planning on June 30th. I will be glad to see all of my colleagues. There is the debacle of the air-conditioning installation, or lack thereof. Our building is separate from the "main" building of the school and our air was controlled by some secret governmental group. I am a big girl, and you really don't want an angry, sweaty big girl. Last year during our open house, all dressed up, the temperature in the building was high 80's (F). Finally one of the influential board members experienced this and we are getting new air conditioning, for which I am TOTALLY thankful. However, the Harvard-yard brainiac who is our architect, ordered the wrong units. This is causing there to be a GREAT crunch in time. I have arranged to borrow a lab from one of the science teachers. They think I'm kidding, but I'm afraid I'll have to teach out of this strange room. I know that there are plenty of people who do this all the time. KUDOS to you because you are better people than I am. I like having my stuff around me, like I like it. However, if they give me a room a little later with HVAC that I can control, it's a small price to pay.

In a totally unrelated area, I am happy to say that I have a new obsession. While flipping the channels last night, I landed on the Victoria Beckham reality show. I cannot tell you how entertaining it was. If you'd asked me if I was going to watch it, I would've been very offended and given a big no. Well, I watched just a little bit and I was HOOKED. She is, in her vernacular, "MAJOR." I love how she confronted Perez Hilton. I'm sure alot of this show was staged, but it was hilarious. When she went to a neighborhood welcome party and was confronted by plastic-surgeried, cat-looking women, all of whom were well past 40, she could have been very condescending, but she was very sweet. I enjoyed this show SO much that I e-mailed NBC to ask them to continue it. There wasn't much Mr. Beckham in it, but maybe there can be more later.

I went to the gym at 5:30 this morning for the BodyPump class. The regular teacher is on vacation, so someone was supposed to fill in. They didn't. This is the first time this has happened since I've been going to the gym. And, if this is the worst thing in my life, my life is AWESOME! But just being up that early and all set for the workout, it was a little disappointing. Of course, I just hopped on a treadmill and did my 50-minute workout. Some of the people who were there were just furious. I hope they let us know before Thursday morning's class if no one is available to teach.

Yesterday I did make it to the gym, after postponing it most of the day. I did 2.25 miles, just the interval training on the Podfitness workout.