Excited!

I subbed for a half day today for a first grade teacher. It went okay. The sub plans were relatively clear but I have to admit that I was nervous to be subbing for this particular person. She's definitely demanding and stresses out a lot about small things and there was one thing in her plans that wasn't clear and I did NOT want to mess it up because I didn't want her mad at me from now on just because center time didn't go the way she wanted it to. I figured it out though by calling her and I was afraid that the whole time I was talking to her and asking about it, I was fearing she was thinking I couldn't do a simple assignment. We'll see...Karen will tell me if she thought I did a good job or not.


I'm not so sure I'll be getting a sub call tomorrow because Meridian schools only have tomorrow left in the school week because Friday is an in-service day. Boise schools have early-release on Friday so it's probably a pretty good chance that nobody will call me unless it's an emergency.


*sigh* I'm bored now. I think I might go to bed pretty soon. Talk to ya later.

ps. hope you like my new look for the blog. I was getting tired of the same ol', same ol'. I searched all over the internet for new blog templates that looked cool. It took me forever!

Fun day!

I went with my friend, Maren, to a movie today because I didn't get any sub calls. It figures--the one day I actually try to plan ahead and expect an early morning call by getting up at 5:40am and getting a shower and get all dressed...neither subfinder machine for either district calls me. I was shocked. I stayed up for a couple hours just in case because I've had it before when I go back to bed and get all the way back to sleep, the phone would ring and wake me up again. Anyway, Maren and I went to go see "The Duchess". It's got Keira Knightley in it and she's so awesome (and beautiful, I might add). She's so fitting for that period in time (the 1700s) because she's just got that face that could take you back in time or to present day. Her style is so versatile. Of course, I don't know if anybody in the 1700s was that beautiful or not. :) It was fun to have a nice day out.

I need to get out!

I need to get out and run again before it gets cold for good. I also should get back to my gym classes. I haven't been to them in several months because I got bored with them. It seemed like the same things over and over again and plus, the instructors (that I liked) have been shifting and leaving.


I'm watching some good scary movies on the sci-fi channel. I can only watch them though when it's daylight and Kyle's around--haha.


We've been invited to a neighbor's house for dinner tonight. I don't know what is going to be served but I'm sure it'll be delicious! I contemplated making a pumpkin pie (weightwatchers recipe) but I dunno. I read the instructions and it seems kinda complicated even though the recipe says it's easy.

I was so happy last night to finally speak to my friend, Ashley! She and her husband, Zack, moved to San Diego, CA a few months after Kyle and I moved here to Idaho. We really want to go down there to visit them but that involves having extra money. I talked to her last night on the phone for over an hour! That's the longest we've ever spoken in so long! We usually are playing phone tag forever whenever one of us tries to call. Her husband is in the Navy and I believe she said that he was going to be getting out of it pretty soon and they will possibly be moving back to GA in the Athens area. So, Kyle and/or I need to get a little extra money so that we can go visit them before they leave. I was wanting to go down there this summer but it just didn't work out. Fortunately, the airplane ticket down to San Diego goes on sale quite often so maybe the trip will happen sometime soon. It's so hard not being around our familiar friends here to keep us company. I miss them so much!

I realize we haven't had many posts of us traveling lately but we're trying to keep the costs down for now. Maybe next year we'll be able to go to another new place. I also realize that most of these posts are mundane ramblings but I just want to keep ya'll updated, whether it's about what we've been doing or what we've or I've been thinking about lately. I want these posts to feel like we're all still connected even though we're thousands of miles away from each other. :) It's also easier to type for me than to write in a journal because my hands start hurting after writing for such a long time.


Okay, guess I'm done. If anything else happens, I'll let ya know. :)

Another visual update with haircut.

I want to be a PIXIE!!

I'm gonna get my hair cut tomorrow after class because it's gotten way too long and heavy, even though that's probably good for Idaho winters but still. I feel like it's weighing me down. I want to chop it all off again and this time I've chosen the style. It's called a pixie cut. These two pictures are my inspiration for what I want my hair to look like. The top one, I really like the front of the hair because it just looks all beachy and relaxed. The bottom one kind of has that more formal look (more sculpted and whatnot) and it still kinda goes along with the spikey look that Mom and Dad like. I want some weightless hair again! :) Lemme know what you think. Oh and yes, I plan on doing my makeup like the second picture....be scared..hehehe..just kidding. Although it's really cool looking. Maybe I will play around and do something less dramatic but along the same effect. :)

TIRED!

I am so tired! I feel like these classes are never gonna end but I know they will. There's only one more meeting of each class that I'm taking this semester. I'll be done with both of them by Dec. 5th and 6th. That'll be great!


I subbed today and it was very uneventful, which I guess you could say was good, right? It was good...just a little on the boring side at first. On the bright side, however, I did start reading a book from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. If you like stories about vampires, it's right up your alley. I like stories about vampires...so, it's right up my alley. It's not scary and creepy like the Anne Rice books. It's a series about this girl who falls in love with a vampire and how she's constantly wanting to become one so that she never has to grow older and she can be with him forever. I started reading the second book, New Moon, because the teacher didn't have the first one on her bookshelf so that was my only choice. I had so much extra time throughout the day today that I was able to get to chapter 4! I don't read a lot normally because it's just not fun for me unless the book is actually REALLY entertaining for me and keeps me interested. This one did. The author has a way of keeping you locked in to find out what happens next. Anyway, this series has been raved about all over the place, especially here that I've noticed. I think one reason that I've been hearing about it so much over here is because the author is a graduate of Brigham Young University and I believe she's Mormon so that, of course, gets major press over here in the west. My friend, Maren, who is a Mormon has read all of the books. So, I'm just guessing that this series is favored among most Mormon youth and young adults. But it's not only for Mormons though. It just happens to be written by one so it seems that way. From what I've seen so far, I haven't picked up any LDS vibes from it--religious-wise. It's just your typical fantasy book, I guess. :)


I started getting homesick a little bit tonight at class because we started reading an article that involved letters being written between a mom and a daughter and then another letter being written between a daughter and a dad. The content of the letters had nothing to do with me but as I was reading them, I just got a slight tinge of homesickness and started thinking about our upcoming trip(s) to GA. I can't wait to be back home, even if it is only for a little, short visit. I miss the smells of home and my (parents) house. It's so comforting. It's funny how we equate smells with home and with other places. Anyway, I can't wait to be home! Have I mentioned that yet? :)

Drum roll, please...

Kyle is safe from the layoffs. We can breathe easy for now. :)

I deserve a day!

I decided to take today off from subbing. I know it's a sacrifice of $75 but I needed it. I thought I could consider today as my Saturday since I'm not gonna have a whole Saturday this weekend due to my Master's class taking up most of it. Plus, the beginning of this week was a little difficult with classes. Monday's sub job wasn't exactly enjoyable. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't good either. I subbed for a fellow classmate of mine and he teaches middle school ELL, which I should've known would be difficult. First of all, he emailed me with this complicated skeleton of a lesson plan and it confused the crap out of me and then he listed SEVERAL students who would resist working. Then he said that the vice principal would be visiting every so often to check on the dynamics of the classroom (well, she only ended up visiting once). So to begin with, I wasn't very excited to go into his classroom anyway. Well, the morning went well but the afternoon went downhill. These kids were so negative toward each other! They kept telling each other to shut up and then they were calling each other names! I just couldn't believe it! I mean, this is an ELL classroom where everybody is pretty much in the same boat of being new here (well, they're not brand new because they speak English pretty well but still need that bit of assistance) and I feel like the ELL classroom should be treated as a safe haven for them to come in and escape the mainstream class and the pressures that go along with that such as other students maybe making fun of them because of their accent or something. Why do they feel they can abuse their fellow ELL students? One kid called a girl an elephant because she was slightly in his way and the fact that she's a little on the chubby side--she's just a big girl--she's tall too. He said it twice and I really made it known that I was not happy with his language and the fact that he was calling her that name. I wrote his name down for Sam to see the next day and I hope he addressed this issue with the kid the next day also! It was just stressful to see this kind of behavior. This subbing really allows me to see in what environments I want to work when I finally graduate with my degree. I don't want middle school ELL at all! With the ELL middle schoolers, you have a whole combination of factors: pre-adolescents, hormones AND different cultures that might be clashing with each other. It's definitely a mess! So my two choices of where I would want to work would be either high school or elementary school (imagine that, I said elementary school even though I had said I wouldn't--but this past experience has been consistent with the other middle school ELL experience I had last Fall, so I think it's very fitting). High school is number one on my list, though.

Yesterday wasn't so bad except for the fact that this time I had to sit through another movie for the whole day. "Understanding Bacteria" was the name and it actually wasn't as bad as the Plant movie but still. Sit through any movie for 5 periods and see how it affects you. On the bright side, I got some college work done. :) Anyway, I was so tired afterwards and only one class did I have to get mean in and it wasn't even mean. I had to snatch up a hat that one boy threw across the classroom. They were really disruptive so I wrote a note to the teacher to let him know also. Oh well, guess all jobs can't be perfect but so far this semester, I've only had a few that were less than desirable. I guess I can't complain too much.

Kyle goes back on shift tonight and we'll see if anything has materialized about layoffs or not. He's been checking his Micron email to see if anything's been said and so far nothing. As soon as I get done with this post, he's gonna check. Plus, he has a whole list of things he says needs to be done today since I'm off and I can't waste anymore time now, can I? ;) I'm already doing laundry ahead of time, have already cleaned the coffee maker and now I guess he thinks we should do some gardening work...blah. I thought "Saturday" meant that I could just relax and do a little chores but not too much....

Just a quick note

Yesterday I ran my 10K with Maren. It took me 1 hour and 13 minutes and it took her about 55 minutes. She's a faster runner...well, she's just been doing these things longer and running's really her thing. She runs all the time. Anyway, we started out together but then after the first mile or so, she told me she was gonna start going faster once we got to a certain point. And boy, did she take off once we got that point. Pretty soon, I couldn't even see her anymore. Oh well. :)


After the run, I went out to lunch with Karen and then we walked around the mall. Mervyns was going out of business so they were having a huge sale. I ended up buying a new top and 2 new pairs of jeans. I'm getting rid of 2 pairs at home because they're too big so I needed to replace them with 2 new ones, of course! Both pairs of jeans are size 10 that I bought. They fit me like a glove! Not too tight, not too loose. Just right so that they're flattering and not squeezing anything. I feel very comfortable in them. I was happy. 6 more pounds to go! Karen told me that I didn't need to lose anymore or else I'd barely be seen--haha! That makes me feel good to hear that. I only really wanna lose 6 more pounds and I'll maintain that for awhile to get Lifetime and then after that, I'll reevaluate if I want to lose a little more or stay where I am. I'm feeling really good now so 6 more should feel even better.


Alright. I need to start back up on my paper. It's almost done! I've got some things to change around and some information to add and then it's finished. The class that this paper is for is practically over--we have one more meeting but all we're doing is presenting our papers and then that's it. The other course I'm taking has 2 more meetings and then that's done. My first semester of being a Master's student proved to not be so hard. It was pretty relaxed and laid back. We have no finals except for one big paper for each class but the other course isn't even a research paper really. Just a reflection paper. Guess I better start on that one pretty soon after I get this one done.



OH! I can't believe I almost signed off without telling ya'll this: Kyle came home Saturday morning and told me some news about Micron. Brace yourselves... He told me that his area that he's working in is gonna go through a "restructure". That usually means layoffs. He said that some areas in his fab that he works is are gonna get bigger and some are gonna get smaller. He said that his supervisor told them not to really worry. He said that he doesn't want anybody to leave fab 4. Kyle said that he feels pretty confident that he's not going anywhere but he's still not 100% sure and that's bugging him a bit. IF something were to happen, we'd probably try to stay where we are and he'd apply with Idaho Power for a job since he has experience with power-related stuff. BUT, if that doesn't work, we don't know what we'd do. We'd obviously have to try and get out of our house but the housing prices are so low and undesirable for sellers that it would have to be our last resort. I guess we could always rent the house out but that's hard to do because you can't keep an eye on the house and people who rent a house don't give a flying flip about the house and they just destroy it a lot of the times. At least that's what we observed when we were looking for a house. One house, somebody had peed all over a mattress and they hadn't cleaned up the sheets or anything so the whole house smelled of human urine. EWWWW!!!! Anyway, we won't know anything until either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week so I'll keep ya'll posted.

I should be running but...

I'm tired and lazy this week. All I want to do in the evenings is watch tv and drink hot tea. I've been munchy this week (I think it's because it's that time) but no worries, whenever I realize that I need to stop snacking, I boil some water and then put a teabag in a mug and the hot water and there I have my answer to snacking! It really does help me. I drink a "tension tamer" tea, which means no caffeine and whether it helps me sleep better, I dunno but it makes me feel better anyway. I had to watch a movie today 3 times! Ah! It's called "The Private Life of Plants" and how some have symbiotic relationships with either animals, insects or fungi. I get to watch it 3 more times tomorrow! The reason for that is because the high schools over here have a weird schedule. Some of them have a thing called "A-Day" and "B-Day". This means one day you have one set of classes and then the next day you have your other set of classes and these A and B days alternate each week. Sometimes you have MWF being A day and T/Th being the B day. Then the next week it's MWF B Day and T/Th being A Day. Confusing, huh? I've never been involved in that kind of schedule the whole time I was in high school. It makes for such a long class period sometimes especially if you're a sub and if the teacher assigned work but then the kids get it done early, then they have like 20-25 minutes of free time. Anyway, tomorrow I'll have the first group that I had on Wednesday and so since they only saw the Planet Earth show, they get to watch the Plant movie. Whew! Guess I better bring something to work on, right? I guess I could bring my research paper and fix it up.


I'm running my 10K on Saturday with my friend, Maren. It starts at 10am. Afterwards, I'm going out to lunch with my friend, Karen and we're gonna go eat Mexican food and possibly have a margarita (or two ;) and then walk the margaritas off in the mall, which is basically right across the street from the mexican restaurant. It should be fun!


Poor Kyle has been so tired lately. Ever since he tried flipping to days for his weekend so that he could hang out with some of his friends, he hasn't been able truly flip back to nights this week. He's been kind of fitful in his sleeping and some days he doesn't even sleep his whole time and ends up waking up really early. I don't know how he does it. I would be sick all the time and so grouchy!


I'm trying to decide about my hair length again. I'm kinda schizophrenic about my hair right now. One day I want it one way and the next a different way. I contemplated growing it out again but then remembered that I tend to always just resort to the wet bun on top of my head. So, I think I'll keep it short but still leave a little more length than what I started out with. I've been doing my hair differently lately ever since I bought a straightening iron. I think I liked it the way I did it. It definitely made me look different! In a good way! Anyway, enough rambling on about my hair. :)

I guess that's all for tonite. Not much really to talk about. Later ya'll.

Mentally exhausted..

I am so tired. Subbing really takes it out of ya. I'm subbing for the same teacher the rest of this week and since it's block schedule, which means that every class period is about 92 minutes long, it makes for a VERY long feeling day even though there's only 4 periods a day with one of them being a planning period so it leaves you with just 3 classes. Still..it's long. I'm subbing in a Biology class and they're learning photosynthesis--you would have a blast, Dad. hehe :). They had to fill out some notes and then we watched a segment of "Planet Earth" from the Discovery channel. That was fun because the kids made the same reactions at the same points in the video every class period. They really got into the animal chases--for example, there was a wolf chasing a baby caribou calf and they were running and running and the kids were saying, "GO, baby caribou, go! Don't fall!!" And then when the wolf caught the calf by the tail and dragged him down, the whole class went, "awwwwwww..." (in a disappointed and sad tone). It was funny. What does this have to do with photosynthesis? Well, it basically just mentioned the term but they also stressed how the sun and water are two very vital elements on this planet. Let's hope the students picked that theme up. Anyway, watching the same video 3 times in one day and then saying the same things over and over again gets pretty tiresome and that's why I feel like collapsing every day when I get home from a job. :/


I'm gonna register for my spring semester classes pretty soon. I hope I can get the ones I need!


I'm coming home for Erin's wedding it turns out. We made it work. There was a deal online for a roundtrip ticket and it wasn't bad at all. I'll be there on the 31st and then leave on the 3rd. So, it's a quick trip, but certainly worth it! I hope I don't cry. Kyle won't be able to make it and he said that it doesn't really bother him because he's got a duty here with Micron and plus, he's saving up his days so that he's not gone so much right before our big trip to the ATL for our Christmas/New Year's vacation. He really wanted me to be able to be there for an important family event such as this special wedding.


Oh, I never told ya'll about the chocolate chip zucchini bread we got from one of our neighbors. Why did we get it, you ask? Well, one day a couple of weeks ago, I looked out our kitchen window and our neighbors' front door was open just a crack but I saw the guy's truck there so I just thought that maybe he stepped inside to get something and would be right out. Nobody ever came out but I just figured I wouldn't stand there and watch all day and I guessed that in time, he would shut it. Well, I went somewhere during the late morning and didn't come back til late afternoon. I looked again and their door was standing wide open! I was convinced now that they had just completely forgotten to close it so I stepped outside and just kinda looked around and started walking toward the house and their little tiny dog came out the front door and started running at me and barking but then when I stepped towards him, he kept backing way--haha-wimp! I shooed him back into the house and pulled the door shut while trying to listen for any noise of people inside the home. Well, I shut the door and went back into my house. I looked outside again and there was a cat that I thought was stray and I was so happy that I had shut their door because I didn't want stray animals just walking into their house. Well, a few hours later, I saw a car pull up to their house and I went out there and told the lady (who happened to be the mother of the man, Quinn and her name was Marla). I told Marla that I had shut their door because it stayed open pretty much all day and she said that they had gone away for the weekend to Sun Valley which is several hours from here. Then she asked me if the black and white kitten had gotten out and I said "OH NO! Yes it did but I didn't realize it belonged to them!" She said that it wasn't supposed to get out. I was so afraid that the kitty had run away so I started looking around and had offered that if I saw it after she left, that I would bring it into my house until someone got home. Just then, I looked near the front door and the baby kitty stuck its head out between the little potted trees on their porch and I got the kitty and picked him up and gave him to her so that she could put him back in the house. I had saved the day (and the precious baby kitty). She took note of my name and then a few days later, the woman that lives there, Shirley, came with a loaf of chocolate chip zucchini bread in her hand with a thankyou note. The bread was to DIE FOR!!!! So good!!!!! Kyle demanded that I got the recipe from her and so I did and I haven't made it yet but I fully intend on it in the near future. It was tasty! I guess it pays to be a watchful neighbor sometimes. I'll be willing to be one if it pays in baked goods :).

Change of season and habits

The high today is only supposed to be 47 degrees!! AAAHHH!! I think I will still try to go running in it though because this next Saturday, I am signed up to run a 10k and who knows how cold that will be! BRRR!! So, yesterday I went to my weigh-in and I had lost 1.6 lbs or so and that put me back below my original weight goal and now they're wanting to put me on maintenance for 6 weeks before I become Lifetime member (which means NO PAYING)! Well, the problem (if you wanna call it a problem) is that I set this original goal way back when I was stuck in the 170s and couldn't get down it seemed. I panicked and said 169 was my goal but now that I've hit a pound below, I want to possibly try and lose about 8 more before I'm comfortable with saying I've hit my goal. I would say that a comfortable goal would be about 160. I'd be okay with trying to maintain that and then once I hit Lifetime, I could always try to lose a few more but I don't want to go much lower than the 150s because I think I would look TOO skinny! I don't want to fit into the Halloween theme by being a skeleton! hahaha. I think the 150s as an ultimate goal would be very nice for me. I could start buying new clothes to fit the new me at my new weight! I don't really remember the last time that I was in the 150s. Maybe it was when I was in Redcoats or something. I do remember that I lost a lot of weight one year due to not eating enough during the day because of a tight schedule. But that only lasted a short time and once that tight schedule went away, I started eating again and never stopped. oops.


I like the way that I've been eating now a days because on Saturdays, I allow myself to let go a little and whatever I've been craving for awhile, I let myself indulge for that day. That's also the day that we usually go out to eat and I feel I can order without worrying too much. BUT, it's just that one day. If we go out another night, that's when I have to be choosey in what I order. I always like going to the Thai restaurant because I feel they have the healthier choices for me. I also just found out that a new restaurant opened up not too far from us and it's like that place in ATL area called Sweet Tomatoes (a soup and salad bar). This place here is called Souper Salad. I think I might be visiting that place often! :) I will have to watch out though for the breads and desserts, however. Some of the soups could be dangerous too but all I really have to do is just not eat the creamy soups. Anyway, lately when I've indulged in my cravings, I find out that the stuff really doesn't taste as good as I had imagined...it's funny how taking that stuff out of your diet can change the way you look at it later on down the road. I think the reason why the food tasted so good earlier on was just because it was comfort for whatever reason. I remember eating a lot when I was working at Rowland Elementary because I felt like I deserved it whenever I had a bad day. It helped me forget my worries and stresses and it was like a big hug or something comforting to hide me from whatever was troubling me. I'd like to think that's all behind me now though. I haven't really felt the need to comfort myself since I've been on Weightwatchers. Even if I do, I'm able to wait much longer (like wait for Saturday to come around) to give in. Well, I believe I have talked enough about my habits. I'm just so happy that I've finally broken that huge plateau and have been able to get down to a more comfortable weight range with possibly wanting to lose a little more to make me feel even more confident.

Thanks for listening/reading. <3

Winter Wonderland already

We have snow in the mountains already. It's so cool. and COLD!!!!!

Uncertain times

Due to the economy issues, Micron is downsizing yet again by about 1500. This is scary news but Kyle's not going to be touched (this time around again). He says that they are pouring money into the research and development area, which is where he's at and also they are cutting production of a certain size of wafers (have Kyle explain that to you if don't understand because your guess is as good as mine). Kyle's working on another more modern size wafer and they're wanting to increase production of that size and so that's fortunate for us. Whew! I just have had this fear in the back of my mind that one night while I'm sleeping, he's gonna call me and be like, "We have to get out of the house ASAP!" What a terrifying thought especially since the house market stinks right now! As of now, we'd lose about $20-30,000 and that's something we cannot afford at all!! But alas, we're not too worried just yet but keep us in your thoughts as Micron starts to feel the burn of the weakened economy. We don't know what we would do exactly if he were to actually be laid off--we'd probably try to stay here but more than likely, we'd probably end up moving somewhere else, whether it be back to ATL or some other bigger metropolitan area. I just hope that we both can finish our Master's degrees before anything like that happens. :)

Love always.

Searching forever!

I'm upset because I used to have this box of 4 or 5 long bottles of Clinique Happy Heart fragrance and now for some reason, I can't find them! The last time I had them, it was for sure in the apartment at Jimmy Carter and that place was CLEANED OUT! It HAS to be here somewhere and I have no idea where! The only reason I started looking for them was because I found a loose one somewhere --and the box was nowhere near it so I don't know how that one got loose. Anyway, once I found that one bottle, I started wearing the scent again and I had forgotten how much I loved that scent! It's so feminine and fresh and pretty smelling without being too powerful. It's my favorite alongside the other scent of Clinique Happy. It's just driving me nuts that I can't find this though. ARRRRRGH!

The CRAZIEST idea yet...maybe it's not so crazy.

I was just talking to my cousin, Amanda and while we were talking she told me that she and her sister were going to end up running the Indy Mini-marathon again next year even though she had just said that she was in so much pain that she wondered if she'd ever want to do it again...well, they are. Then I said that wouldn't it be great if I joined them? She and I think it's a GREAT idea! I'd be a part of the largest mini-marathon! 1 of 25,000! Wow! It's definitely something to think about. I'm gonna start scouting out a plane ticket price that's not too high for that weekend (May 2nd). I think it would be so cool! Then I'd have 2 running buddies! We'll see...it's still in the works and nothing's set in stone. It might not be possible if the plane ticket's too expensive although, I looked on the websites for curiosity's sake and right now it's about at $240 for a roundtrip. I don't think it's that bad for now but maybe if I give it a little time, it might go down a little lower, who knows?


Sidenote: due to the slow substitute business, I've applied again with our home district of Meridian also to see if I can pick up some extra jobs. Monday and today produced no phone calls, of course Monday, I didn't know if I'd be ABLE to work because of my knees hurting and popping--I probably would've had to do a lot of walking or going up and down stairs and that would've been absolute murder!

2:45!!!

Well, folks--I did it. I ended up completing the half-marathon in 2 hours and 45 minutes! Wow. I hurt all over my hips, thighs, knees, and feet. Everything below the waist basically hurts and aches! It was fun though! I had a great time and I probably will do this one again but for now, it's on to smaller distances to kind of recover. I'm going to do a 10k in a couple of weeks with my friend Maren. So, when I finished the run today, I got a medal for completion--everybody gets one. Sadly, at the beginning of the morning, both Kyle and I thought for sure that the 13.1 miles would take me no less than 3 hours so Kyle went back home after I took off with all the runners and he tried to get some sleep. Well, he ended up missing me coming into the finish line :(. Oh well, we had no way of knowing. I didn't want to bring my cell phone with me because I had no pockets and plus the phone would've kept slapping me against the leg. Anyway, I started off strong with everybody but I had to take myself down to a steady and slower pace so that I wouldn't wear myself out right away. I was able to stay running for about the first 5 miles with small stops on and off again because of stomach cramping but I kept going and finally in the last half of the run, I had to stop more and walk because of my feet hurting and my hips feeling like they were going to fall off! On the last leg of the run, I saw a fox! He just came right out of the tree and river area and stopped to look at all of us and then he proceeded across the running path to the fence on the other side of the road which happened to be the fence to the city zoo. For a minute, I thought he was going to start running with us. hahaha. So at the last mile and a half or so, I kept walking/hobbling and jogging. In the last mile, I picked up the pace more because I knew I was getting closer and finally I was within view of the finishing area. Lines of people were there to clap and yell at us to keep us going. I kept running all the way to the finish line and got my completion medal and gratefully grabbed a water bottle from a volunteer. This has been the best experience I've had in exercising. Kyle felt a little jealous that he couldn't run it with me but maybe next year! He said he was very proud of me and was shocked at my running time. He said he probably wouldn't have made it that fast.

I feel good but boy, did I mention that I'm sore as all get out? I also have a major headache. If it's this bad today, am I going to be able to even get out of bed tomorrow morning? We'll see. I may have to just stay in bed all day tomorrow instead of going in to a school for work. I'll try though. I just may have to be pushed in a wheelchair. :)

Here are some pictures from the start and the last picture is after I had finished and when Kyle finally showed up:

Fun night!

Have you ever played Bunko? It's really fun! It's a dice game and it's packed full of nail-biting excitement! Let's just say that at some point during the game, I had a headache because of all the women screaming whenever they were successful at a round. The instructions are a little complicated to explain here but regardless, it was really fun. I was invited by my friend, Tanya because she goes to this church here in Meridian and apparently there's a Bunko league made up of several women and they get together every so often to play. We were subs in the game because some women couldn't show up tonight. Lucky for us, huh?

Oh and as expected, I didn't get the ELL tutor position probably due to that other girl being familiar with the school and stuff. But I'll know for sure if she got the job when I sub on Thursday for the head teacher. Also, Tiger seems to be back to normal but I haven't gotten the call from the vet yet. Hopefully they'll call me tomorrow and let me know what they found in his sample. Hopefully it was just something he ate that didn't agree with him too well. Ugh, I'm tired. I'll probably be dreaming of dice tonight--so many dots!

Visual update

Here's a visual of what I'm looking like these days. Kyle and I went on a nice walk on Camel's Back trail. I saw it as a photo-op. My half-marathon is this Sunday. Wish me luck! I'm going to do another run but it'll be shorter on the 18th of October. I figured that I should keep doing these things in order to keep me motivated to keep running. It seems to be the best weight-loss method so far (as well as wise eating habits formed from being in Weightwatchers).

Poor, poor kitty!

Something's wrong with Tiger. He's been kinda edgy lately and then it all came out (literally) this morning. Kyle got home and Tiger was meowing and yowling more than normal and was really jumpy and weird. Kyle just thought that he wanted to play so he got the laser toy and started getting Tiger to chase it but Tiger ended up not being too interested. Then all of a sudden, he backed up to a wall and just did a huge number 2 all on the floor!! In two places!! He kept yowling and we had to go because we had Kyle's car appointment but we didn't want to leave Tiger alone in the house just in case he went again and then we couldn't find it! I called the vet and made an appointment for later today and we have to bring a stool sample in because Kyle said that he might've seen some red in the poop. We put Tiger in his little pet taxi and took him with us to the car dealership. While he was in his taxi, he peed all over the place. This behavior is SO NOT HIM! There has to be something up with our baby kitty! He was screaming all the way to the dealership but then he calmed down a little while I was sitting with him in my car. I know he hated sitting in a dirty cage but there wasn't anything I could do about it. We finally got back home and I got him out of his cage and wrapped a towel around him. We gave him a bath so that he wouldn't get pee all over the house. After his bath, we put him in the laundry room to keep him in one place so that nothing else would happen in the house. We were just thankful that it was just poop that he did on the carpet instead of the other. He's quiet now though so maybe it was just a freak virus that got into him or he ate something. Nonetheless, we're still taking him to the vet to see what's up. He's due for an annual exam anyway. More money to spend but we want a healthy baby kitty. :)

It's a jungle out there!

I just got done mowing the front and backyard lawn--that was definitely more than I could chew--or should I say that was more than the lawn mower could chew? We hadn't cut it for about 2 weeks! The front yard wasn't so bad because for some reason it doesn't grow as fast but the backyard was an absolute nightmare!! I'm gonna feel sore in the morning, I can just feel it.

I was subbing again at the elementary school I had been at last week for ELL. Now, I have an interview there because an ELL tutor position became available but I think it's because they had the same thing happen with them as Garfield did as in they had to lay people off at the end of last school year because of funding/numbers. Now they're about to get at least 8 or 9 more minority language students so as of now, this school has over 100 world languages represented! I set up my interview for Friday morning at 8am and while I was in the principal's office setting up the interview time, I got a glimpse of the list of interviewees and I saw the name of someone that had already been working there. I'm not gonna totally resign just because of that but if I know school district politics, chances are that she'll probably get it since she knows the school and knows the students and the students know her. But, regardless, I'm gonna do my best in the interview.

Kyle and I have to go get his car serviced tomorrow---it's always something, isn't it? It's annoying that we can never seem to break even or save a little bit. It's been tough lately. Times like these make us sorta regret buying our house and we wish that we had just stayed in the apartment but we were so set on getting out because of the horrible experience we had in our apartment at Jimmy Carter--that freak woman traumatized us! We'll make it though. :)