If you love it, why not do it for (a little) money?

I've decided to become a ZUMBA instructor. This became a realization over our trip during the holidays. A friend has been inspiring me to keep myself fit and happy through dancing. She has been a motivating force in my weight loss efforts, whether she knows it or not. Her ZUMBA classes make me feel stronger each time I attend and I feel worlds better about my body than I ever have. So, I was sitting at my in-laws' house and decided after speaking with my friend when I decided to invest the money in ZUMBA training. My training session won't happen until February 26th but I'm SOOO excited! I go to classes every week so why not get paid to party? :) The thing I need to work on though is performing with a smile. I get to concentrating so much on the moves that I'm doing in class that I forget to smile and that's what I'm going to have to learn. I probably won't be able to smile ALL the time but at least whenever I make eye contact with the students, I better look like I'm having a good time! I'll also probably have to learn how to shout and holler every once in awhile during class to make it sound like party!

I've officially spent a lot of my Christmas money on ZUMBAwear. I should be fully outfitted for my classes that I would like to teach. I'm so excited to turn my information into the gym and maybe other places so that I can get in and earn a little money. I might even look into working at Curves since they now have the Curves ZUMBA in the Circuit. The best thing is the fact that Kyle 100% supports this endeavor. It is a pricey endeavor but he knows it'll make me happy and healthy. That's the best kind of support to have! :) I know that the money I earn as an instructor is peanuts compared to what this is all costing but it'll be so much fun and it'll be a little bit of pocket money to have on the side. I can't wait til February!! Now I just gotta get myself in really good shape so that all this ZUMBAwear actually looks presentable on me. hehehe

PointsPlus (new WW plan)

Weightwatchers came out with a new plan this past week called PointsPlus. What does that sound like to you?? Plus means more, right? Well, that's kinda how you can look at it. It's the Points program redesigned based on today's scientific and nutrition research. I haven't started this new plan yet but I plan on starting day 1 of the new plan on Sunday. That's usually when I get back on the horse and ride until the following Saturday. Anyway, the best thing that I've learned from reading about the new PointsPlus program is that ALL FRESH fruit is FREEEEEEEE!!!!! That's right, people, fresh fruit has a value of 0 points, as do most veggies-but that was the same in the last Points program. Anyway, I am so overjoyed at this new development. I was always kinda resentful of the fact that if I chose to eat a banana, I'd have to give up 2 of my daily points and when you've already got a low daily target of points to start out with, well, that just didn't seem fair. I mean, there were a lot of ridiculously unhealthy things I could've chosen to eat besides the banana...SO--with this new development, when I'm hungry for a snack or I just want to eat a lot of fruit, I can do just that without being penalized by using up points. This whole plan is of course, to try and get people to pick up those fruits and veggies more often rather than the 100 calorie chip bag or the brownie. I'm so excited about this. Now, this doesn't mean that I can gorge myself either. I have to use common sense and listen to my body signals and eat only when I'm hungry. I still have to get all my good health guidelines in such as healthy oils (psh, I don't even make it a point to count those because I use olive oil each time I put something in a pan to cook it) and dairy and whole grains and what not...which leads me to my next point: daily target and bonus allowance pointsplus.

My daily target of points was a whopping 24 points. My weekly allowance of bonus points was 35--this all sounds like a lot but it really wasn't when you factored in everything you were "supposed" to eat versus everything you wanted to eat. haha.. So now my daily target is 29 and allowance is 49! However, most of our foods we've been used to eating regularly have gone up in pointsplus values so it kinda evens it out, probably. Anyway, since I haven't tried it yet, I will write an update on Saturday more than likely to tell you how it went. That poor orange bin at WinCo will be emptied by all the people (specifically me) trying out this new plan. I LOVE ORANGES AND GRAPEFRUITS!!!!

Can you believe it???

Idaho (southwestern part) was hit really hard by a winter storm and we got about 7+ inches, maybe even closer to 10 in some areas west of Meridian!! That's huge for the Treasure Valley apparently--it might be rivaling the first winter we were here because when we were here for our first winter, many people were saying it was a heavy snowfall and unusual. Well, guess today might've beaten that. AND it's only the end of November/early December! We don't usually get that much snow until later on in the winter..like, January or something. Anyway, it was such a ginormous amount of snow, that traveling conditions were extremely dangerous and so the school districts cancelled school. NOW THAT'S A BIG DEAL! They don't usually call off school here. I had that sub job planned for today but it's better that school was cancelled because I didn't need extra dangerous driving conditions for a job that's only gonna pay me $75 for the entire day (including traveling from the first school to the second school).


I shoveled snow today out of our driveway. What a pain in the... The snow was HEAVY. I probably will feel it in my shoulders tomorrow or maybe even later tonight. The muscles in my shoulders were already spasming earlier this afternoon after my first go 'round. The second go 'round, I spent the time clearing more off of the sidewalks since we have a corner lot, figured it'd be nice to do more than just the portion in front of the house. I didn't get all of the side lot, but hey, I think people will forgive me. I have a picture or two of the snow. I have one that I took right after I started shoveling the driveway. It's so thick!! I have to figure out how to get it here on the computer from my phone..I'll get Kyle to help me. :)

Nothing to say

I'm sorry I haven't been post much lately or as frequently. Nothing really is happening though, so no major life changes so far except for the fact that I got a new phone but I know ya'll don't want to really hear about that. ;)

Oh and besides the fact that we're having an extremely harsh winter so far this season.. Tonight we're supposed to get dumped on (and by dumped on, I mean 4 inches--that's a big deal here apparently).

Okay, gotta get to bed. I have a sub job tomorrow that requires me to actually wake up tomorrow--haha! Imagine that. Anyway, it's also a travelling job (itinerant schedule=commuting from one school to the other to finish up the job). This is for German--it's actually the job I interviewed for 2 springs ago but didn't get. I'll get to see how horrible that teacher's life is by not having a prep or regular lunch time. Personally, I would hate it. I'm not organized enough to go between 2 different places. I'd leave stuff behind all the time probably. Anywho, we'll see what it's like tomorrow if we don't have a snow day. What's gonna make it interesting is the snowy commute...

It's COLD!!!

Wednesday's high is gonna be a whopping 12 degrees. Enough said.

Struggling

Wow, that last post was a doozy. Sorry about it being so emotional but it was nice to sit back and think about the memories of childhood with Chris. :)


What I'm struggling with right now is my goal for weight loss. You remember I had said that I wanted to lose around 15 pounds or so by the Christmas holidays...well, it was going really well for the first few weeks of my goal plan. Then these last couple of weeks, it's come to a screeching halt. Maybe it's been stress, maybe something else. I'm thinking that this week is because (excuse the too much info) of it's the week before the monthly. A lot of women tend to eat more about this time because they just crave stuff. My weakness this week? Trail mix with peanuts, almonds and chocolate candy pieces--sweet and salty. Ugh. I feel like crap. The last week, I don't know what my excuse was. Just eating. Anyway, my weight loss has become a small gain. Maybe around 3-5 pounds, which is what I had already lost. I HATE THAT!!!! It's not like I've been slacking on exercising either though. Zumba is 3-4x a week and I do the new class, PiYo on Mondays (upbeat mix of pilates and yoga--really fun). Didn't have that class this week though due to the teacher being out of town. :( Can I blame her for my gain this week? Probably not. It's my own fault. Anyway, this is my chance to get back on the horse this week. No school means no temptations in the faculty rooms. :) Yesterday, there was pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing...oh man. 2 squares gone--guilty party? Me. But it's back on the horse this week. No specialty items for me. I know you're saying, "But it's Thanksgiving.." Well, I have control of all the food this week (that's the one good thing about not traveling for the holiday). The only unhealthy thing we plan on having is the fried turkey--I'll just peel the skin off of mine and that should help. I was maybe thinking about making pumpkin ice cream and maybe I still will but I'll make it with healthier ingredients maybe. :) Low fat pumpkin ice cream. Should be good. Maybe a Weightwatchers dessert recipe, which they tend to have some really good ones!

Alright. There ya go. That's the deal. I'll check back in later.

ps. The good thing is, even though my weight seems to be going up slightly, I think I've lost a lot of fat inches lately. Or at least I feel like I have anyway.

As I'm wiping tears away from my eyes...

I said goodbye to Chris for the next 7 months on the phone. As I'm wiping tears, I'm thinking of all the fun childhood memories we have shared.

*washing his hair with bubble solution

*putting girl panties on him and a fake long, blonde hair piece with a big pink bow and him running down the hall (this was just last month...just kidding! more like when he was probably 3 or 4).

*our babysitter, Cheryl, putting my hair in pigtails and him getting jealous that she was doing my hair and so she put his little blonde curls in one little pigtail and called him Chrissy.

*giving our cats, Peaches and Sprinkles, birthday parties consisting of little cups of cat food and/or treats.

*bouncing on one of the air mattresses that Grandma and Grandpa used to sleep on when they stayed at the house--by bouncing, I mean me falling on the mattress while Chris is on the other end and when I fall, it catapults Chris up in the air, over between the chairs that used to be next to the window in the bonus room.

*the home video of me and Chris playing with play dough with Grandma Brown and him sneezing one of his snot bubble sneezes into the yellow dough.

*not a pleasant memory but the time when I accidentally left him at the middle school after my band practice was over...I still think about that time and feel extremely remorseful for my foolish teenage ways.

*staying late at night at the florist with our sleeping bags watching old sitcoms on the black and white radio tv and making box forts. We also slept in the boxes.

*the many screaming fights we had and mom yelling, "DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!!!"

*Screaming laughter and wrestling that took place many times in the bonus room.

*playing war/guns/legos with our next door neighbors.

*jumping on the trampoline.

*Chris's zipline.

*Chris shooting a squirrel by accident with an arrow.

*making vomit burp sounds at Nana's.

*Chris's rubbery dance moves.

Those are just a few for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later. I just hope my little brother is kept safe over there in that other world. We need him to come back safe and sound. I need my baby brother to come back. I want him to have a happy, long life after this commitment he's made. The people of the United States truly appreciate the sacrifices these Marines (as well as other servicemen and women) will be making. People here can complain all they want about their "lack of freedom" but it's only here in the US that we can feel safe and feel free from torture/punishment for voicing our opinions. Without our military, who knows where we'd be. Probably we'd be in the same place as those poor civilians over there in Aghanistan/Iraq/Iran/Pakistan...etc.. We are extremely lucky. I am extremely lucky to have a brother who is willing to do this for our family and for the people in this country. I'm proud. But at the same time, a bit selfish when I say that I wish he didn't have to do this but it's something he wants to do and who am I to stand in his way? All I am is an older sister who wants her little brother safe at all costs.


I love you, Lance Corporal Christopher Brown. Come back to us in seven months--burps and vomit sounds, included.

Subbing along...and a normal schedule

Kyle is no longer on funky shifts anymore!!! He started on Tuesday with a normal, first shift job. He had applied for another job within Micron to get off these insane 4 month shifts and had to wait almost a month to even hear anything about it. He finally got the word last week and they gave him the job. He goes into work now from about 7am-5pm (ish). The earlier he goes in, the earlier he can leave and vice versa. Today he went in super early because he woke up super early...we're talkin' 4am. He couldn't sleep. His body thinks this is a trick and all night he really didn't sleep well so he just got up around 4am and got ready for the day. Anyway, we're really happy that he's got a normal person shift and won't be a vampire any longer (although, I've got a soft place in my heart for vampires--i.e. Edward Cullen in the Twilight stories <3 ).


I'm still subbing. It's been slow but oh well. I've actually not minded that (although, less subbing=less extra money). I'm just so tired of this crap. I hate subbing. I hate being a slave to my phone (anticipating it ringing and whatnot) and a slave to the computer, constantly checking in online to see if there's a job waiting for me. I used to be compulsive and check all day, every day but now I don't care. It's almost as if I'm rebelling and not wanting to work. Maybe that's true. I'm tired of it all. I just want a constant job that gives me no choice of whether to get up for the day or not. When I was working last year, yeah, it hurt to get up early but I knew that I was having fun (most of the time) and there was a nice, constant paycheck coming for me at the end of the month. Now, my paychecks are a mere fraction of what I got--I think my effort in the subbing has lessened as well. I figure, what the heck. I don't care. I get paid peanuts now for a job well done. Why should I go above and beyond now? Most teachers don't even really care what goes on when they're not there--I know I didn't unless a major behavior problem constituted a write-up to the office. Other than that, I'd get back to my room the next day and just throw away the sub notes. I know in elementary school it's different though. Teacher has to know how far the kids got in the assignments and the progress that they made. That's a little different so I make sure to concentrate more on those assignments since I'm trapped in the classroom all day with the same kids. Gotta keep the sanity, ya know? ;) Anyway, it's just exhausting doing this day in, day out. Some substitutes do this as a retirement thing to keep them active. With as much as I've done subbing these past oh, 2.5 years or so, I don't think I'd do it again even when I'm gray. I might be willing to help out in classrooms and do the busy work but not subbing.

Don't I feel like a donkey's rear?

Yesterday I was subbing at an elementary school and the morning went a little rough because the kids were SO ACTIVE and talkative! They were being so rowdy when we had a guest speaker. I told them that I was disappointed in their behavior and that the rest of the day had better improve so that I don't have to keep writing "bad" notes to the teacher. They got better. As good as they could get, anyway. So, after library time, we had 10 minutes before lunch and it was their silent reading time. I told them as they entered the room, that they needed to continue reading silently until I called them to line up for lunch. THEY DID IT. So I was happy about that and took a mental note. During lunch, I took the little Way To Go Wagon rewards and filled them out to give to each student to show my appreciation. I decided I would give them to the students when they came in from lunch/recess. Well, after everyone came in, I gave them each one explaining why I was doing so. No sooner had I passed out most of the rewards, the people who monitor the playgrounds (school support personnel, SSP for now) came into the classroom and gave everyone a lecture about name calling and disrespect out on the playground. I felt like a donkey's rear because I had just given them a reward for respecting rules and whatnot. As the SSP were leaving, I asked the kids whether I needed to take back the rewards or not. I felt SO DUMB. But I rationalized that I was not rewarding playground behavior but the classroom behavior I had witnessed just before lunch. Ugh. I hate when stuff like that happens. Also, what's ironic is they had JUST had a lesson in the morning from the counselor about bullying and emotional safety and name calling. Guess some people weren't taking that advice to heart.

Nostalgia hits hard

I'm feeling homesick sorta and nostalgic. I can't wait to come home for a few days to see Chris and Mom and Dad.

I want to hire painters.

I really want to hire painters to finish the job I started (baseboards in our bedroom, as well as painting all the rooms a really nice, neutral color). Too bad that requires having a lot of extra money. We also want new flooring because our carpet gets more and more disgusting each week. We tried doing the Rug Doctor thing and it seemed to do the trick for a little while. The only bad thing is you have to keep the windows open to let the carpet dry out or it starts smelling kinda musty. I don't mind keeping the windows open if the temperature's just right though. I also want some crown moulding in the bedrooms. I think it would give the rooms a finished/polished look. Again, this all requires tons of money. :( Even if I had a job, we'd have to take all this one step at a time but it'd be a lot easier anyway.

*Random side note that's totally not related to this: I've set a goal for myself and my weight loss. I'm winding down the loss (been battling a plateau as of lately--a really rough one) and I've decided that my last weight loss goal is to lose 15 pounds by Christmas. I realize this is going to be a difficult task BUT I'm ready for it. Bring it on. That makes me losing about a pound each week (15 weeks from now until Christmas). This is a pretty realistic and healthy goal. Healthy weight loss is about a pound or two per week. I realize I'm gonna hit some challenges along the way but I'm ready to face them. I'm just ready to get the rest of this weight OFF!!!! I want to feel comfortable in all of my clothes. I have some pants that I bought earlier this summer because I was doing pretty good for a couple of weeks and dropped down in weight but the couple of pounds that I had lost came back on and so now those pants are kinda pushed to the back of my pant collection. I want to bring those up the front soon. :) I also want to feel comfortable during the holidays that I can indulge some without feeling like I'm going to pay for it later and hate myself and feel really huge. I don't want to feel like I'm constantly pushing the weight limit (according to the Weightwatchers goal weight I had set for myself). I hate stressing when I step on the scale at the meetings and freaking out if I go over the goal. Once I hit this new weight (and stay at it for awhile), I'm going to adjust the WW goal weight to a lower one but not too low so that I have a cushion for myself. Lately I've been doing really well with my eating and not feeling deprived. I usually include a lot of fiber in my diet and water. I think that's my trick. Fiber and water. I do get protein and veggies, as well. I also found a great tea that I can drink called Guayaki Yerba Mate. It's a caffeinated tea that helps motivate me and aids weight loss plans. Whenever I feel the uncontrollable munchy feeling, I brew some of that and have a couple of cups of tea to help refocus my brain. I also just keep a ton of fruit on hand so that if I still can't shake the munchies, I can eat that and not feel too bad. :)

That's my goal for myself so far. I know sometimes I'll stray. I probably won't hit exactly 15 pounds but as long as it's somewhere in the neighborhood, I'll be happy.

Zumba video, again.

http://www.youtube.com/user/zumbahilla (go to the one that is titled "It's Alright" by Pitbull, although it should be already cued up. I'm in the poiple tanktop in the back corner on the left of the screen.

Here is another video of me doing Zumba in another class. See, Aunt Judy?? There are older women that do this class so you don't have to feel like you're "the oldest" in the class. It's for all ages and ability levels. You just have to find the right instructor. :) I like the faster pace of Marcela's classes though.

Well, dagnabbit

I just got the rejection email from the GEAR UP people. It's a no-go. :( Still nothing from Idaho State though...

Well my subbing experiences started off with a bang. Let's just say that my first day back on the job was complete BEDLAM. It was a 7th grade lower level math class. I've never really had any problems with middle school subbing (I know that sounds strange-- middle school=chaos usually) but really, I haven't had much trouble in the past. This was quite a different outcome. HOLY COW. I wanted to drink margaritas the minute I got home. But I didn't. I just retreated into my bedroom, turned off all the lights and crawled under the covers and slept. I can't even begin to describe how crazy those kids were, except for the term: bedlam. Needless to say, I more than likely will NOT be subbing for that lady's class--EVER AGAIN.

The rest of the experiences were heaven so far compared to this one.

Curb Cup 2010

Last Sunday was a long afternoon of shakin' our booties. Curb Cup is an event that takes place all over downtown Boise. All the artists that ever existed come out to be seen. Marcela asked me a couple of weeks ago if I wanted to participate with her and I said sure!! So, this past Sunday we did just that in front of about 27,000 people in a period of about 2.5 hours. It was so much fun!! We had a snafu though because we got there and realized that we didn't have a big speaker to play the music from and all we ended up using was a cd boombox, which if you heard the noise level at that event, you'd know that the boombox probably wasn't going to quite cut it. But we used it anyway. I could hear it pretty good but it was a little difficult for some of the songs to hear a few of the cues to know when to do a different part of the routine. No worries though! We just made the best of it. There was this one point where Marcela and Vivi had walked off to go get some voting tokens for our exhibit and I got back first. Well, when I got back, there were people just standing in front of our exhibit waiting to see what we had to offer. Soooooo.....with some encouraging and some nudging, I turned on a song that I knew all the moves to and performed for the crowd. By myself. Crazy, huh? But the people loved watching the dancing! Oh, I was so embarrassed but it was a great time! :) I ended up dancing Zumba for 2.5 hours at that Curb Cup and then when it was all over, Marcela still had to teach Zumba at the gym at 4:30. Kyle and I had carpooled with them, so we had to go. I danced Zumba for another hour. Making me Zumba for about a total of 3.5-3.75 hours. 3263 calories burned. Whoa. Surprisingly, the next day I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be. However, today my knee isn't liking me too much because yesterday I added onto the intensity of my weekly workouts and did a Body Combat class (basically kickboxing) and a Corefit class (30 minutes straight of ab work--although that doesn't affect my knees). I don't think I'll be making it to Zumba tomorrow morning with Zumba at 10:30. I need to let my knee relax and not put any hard pressure on it for a little bit. I'll probably still go to the Sunday afternoon class still. I can't go a whole weekend and not do that. Otherwise, I feel all out of whack.

Anyway, just ya'll would like to see what I do with my newfound free time. ;) Could you see me as a future Zumba instructor? ;) Probably not because what they pay Zumba instructors doesn't nearly cover the cost of registration for a training program and the membership fees that you have to pay in order to become one. Oh well, for now, I'll just be an overly-enthusiastic student!

Correction

I made a mistake as for what GEAR UP is an acronym: Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. There...thought I'd clear that up for you. :)

I'm getting excited (probably way too prematurely) but I can't help it. This position would be awesome. The posting actually has a closing date--this Friday. At least I know to expect some kind of response either before or shortly after that. I think I'm qualified enough to at least be considered. :)

Another random job sighting.

The other day, I saw a job posting in my email for this listserv to which I belong. Usually when I see these postings, I give them a quick look-over and then promptly delete them. Well, this time, I spotted a silver lining. The position: Program Specialist for GEAR UP. What is that, you ask? Well, GEAR UP stands for Gaining Education and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or something of that nature. It's aimed at helping underprivileged students get ready to further their education past high school into any kind of undergraduate program at a college or university. This position requires the person to (I'm guessing here) follow the status of students, starting in seventh grade and on up into high school, making sure they're following their education plan and making sure they're up to par in their academic skills in order to pursue college. Pretty much. Well, after reading the qualifications and stuff, I figured that I had what it takes to pursue this position. I've turned in all my application materials and now we'll just have to wait and see. One positive note: I did see some activity from my submissions--got an email from the Human Resources office saying that I needed to submit one more thing--the actual application. Oops! Simple mistake. ;) Just a minor misunderstanding of where the application was to be found. I didn't quite see it in all the writing in the actual posting. Anyway, just finished that and sent it on its way through the electronic world. I figure it's a good sign to get that email because it means they were looking at my other materials. :)

The dumb and ridiculous thing I found out today? I need to order some transcripts from BSU and from UGA. Well, when I went on BSU's website to order, I found out they were charging $10... PER TRANSCRIPT!!!!!!!!!! What the heck?????? That's crazy. Absolutely crazy! UGA only costs $2 per transcript! I hate Boise State. I hope Virginia Tech gives them a good hiney whuppin' next weekend. It would serve them right. Ugh.

ps. Don't tell anyone but it seems as though my, um, prayers have been halfway answered, as in, more opportunities coming available...now the other half just have to be answered--such as a job interview and offer...yeah. I said it. Prayers. I know I said in an earlier post about throwing the word "pray" around but I felt my current situation has deserved a prayer or two. I've been feeling extremely restless and depressed and rejected (even though I know it's not personal--it's hard to not feel that way, though). It's been affecting me in bad ways--anger and some crying and lashing out at Kyle. I needed some quiet time and rest-assurance. So I did it. It made me feel better at that moment. And now, I guess I'm seeing those fruits. Now, those fruits need to fall off the tree so I can pick them up and eat them. Mmmmm....i'm hungry now. ;)

The worst part is...

The waiting. It feels like I've been waiting all summer long for any kind of notification, whether it be for a new (nonexistent) teaching job, or now I'm waiting for the stupid BSD to process me for subbing. All I can say is my patience is wearing thin. I want to know when I'm gonna have a sub job. I want to know if I've even got a chance at this recruitment specialist job. I want to know when all this damn waiting is going to come to an end. Kyle told me last night, as I was beginning to get upset about all this stuff, that a coworker of his and his wife struggled for 2.5 years while she was waiting for work. It put a strain on their relationship. We're trying to not let this job stuff interfere with us on a personal, relationship level. It's hard though because everybody that's outside of the situation "knows" exactly what I should do. So, they list things off to me about things I should do to make myself even more marketable. Screw marketable. Have you seen this economy? Nobody's looking for marketable. They're looking for how little they can pay someone. The even more frustrating thing is I've tried applying for the classified jobs (ELL aides, Title I tutors, etc because I'm not above applying for those positions if it means I might get my foot in the door) and they all have turned me down in the past because they just look at me like, "why are you applying for this?" and they knew that I'd eventually find something that my degree matches. They knew that I would leave eventually as soon as that opportunity came along. So, their answer is: don't hire her. Ugh. Guess I better make a call to the BSD office and tell them to get their butts in gear and get me processed because I've got to make my part of the living somehow and if that means I have to prostitute myself out (as a teacher for low, daily pay), then that's what I have to do...you like that? That's my pet name for subbing: cheap teacher prostitution. HAHA!! Anyway, I'll write more later if I hear anything.

Change of pace...

I applied for a recruiter position for Idaho State University today. We'll see what happens. I figured, what have I got to lose? The worst they could say is no, or they just won't call me like everyone else in this state. It sounded like fun--the chance to travel to surrounding states and share how important post-secondary education is, especially in an economy like this one. PLUS, it pays higher than what I would be getting as a teacher! So...we'll just wait and see. :) It was exciting to apply for it though. Took my mind off things for a few minutes anyway.

Anger

I'm feeling extremely betrayed right now as my former colleagues are sitting in the library at CHS enjoying each other's company and celebrating the fact that the students in the school made Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) for the first time ever and I was there to help. However, not anymore. I saw some pictures of happy faces at the school in the meeting room. I cried. Sobbed. I'm angry and frustrated that the district said to my school officials, replace someone who's passionate for doing ELL work with some old, crotchety dude who will probably end up retiring anyway next year.

I'm going to miss the kids that I've already forged relationships with in the classroom. I'm going to miss the camaraderie that I had with my department head (discussing issues in the classroom, going out to Lalo's after school on occasional Fridays, going out to lunch on teacher workdays). I'm going to miss one of my best buddies, Amanda. I knew I could always go over to her room at the end of the day to laugh after a hard day's work. We'd pick up and go to her place or meet at our favorite Mexican joint, Jalapeno's. Of course, maybe being away this year could prove to be better for my waistline. ;) Anyway, it's going to be hard this year not being around people I genuinely enjoy and have created friendships with, as well as professional relationships with the kids. I'll miss being in my own room and standing outside the door during passing periods and chatting the time away with the math teacher next door, Melanie. CHS was probably the only school that I've actually spent quite a bit of time at here in Idaho and yet, felt the most welcomed out of any other schools I've been at so far.

My options for this year, aside from the FOUR (apparently) fake options I thought I had with the Boise school district? Subbing. Of course. :p I hate that lifestyle (yes, it brings in money but only if I'm able to have steady work). Phone calls at 4:45am on cold, wintry mornings. Phone calls on Sunday evenings (which are actually better to get in advance compared to the first way I described). Most of the time, I'm not even acknowledged in the faculty rooms during lunch break unless I'm at a school that I've been at several times. However, they're just superficial acknowledgments but alas, at least they know I'm there. I'm also going to sub for CHS because it will keep me in their sights, should a certain someone decide that (surprise!) they don't want to teach ELL anymore and want to retire. Those are my options so far.

I'm extremely apologetic that you had to read that posting of negativity but this has just been hitting me so hard and so personally that instead of sitting/lying on the couch being depressed for eternity, I decided I'd get it out of my brain and write it down. Thanks. :)

I babysat Lily today and took her on the swings. Listen to that little laugh!

Kyle had his fun too! It's Rocket Lily!!

One more option

Keep your fingers/toes crossed because yesterday I applied for another ELL position (that gives mea total of about 3 extra options for possible employment). I hope I get a call pretty soon now that principals should be getting back into their buildings either tomorrow or Monday. :) I'm staying positive.


We got back home tonight from our wonderful trip to the Oregon coast. It was beautiful and the temperature was every Southerner's dream in the deep summer time. A high of about 65 tops and evening temps in the 50s and constant cool breezes (the only downside possibly is the fact that it does mist quite a bit and is cloudy more often than not but I don't really care--it's better than the harshness of the desert sun and the dampness of the heavy humidity in the south, but most days we were there, it gave us ample opportunities to be outside and not die). Absolutely wonderful. I've already picked out my beach house. I've told Kyle that if he doesn't buy it for me, I'm divorcing him. Just kidding. ;) It was a beautiful house, though.

The Oregon coast, so far...

We got here to Lincoln City, Oregon Monday evening about 5:30 or so after spending a wonderful afternoon lunchtime with my friends, Lydia and Matt in Portland. We got to their house around 12:30pm or so and then went straight to lunch at this EXCELLENT latin american food place called Por Que No. It was absolutely delicious! After lunch, Lyd and Matt took us to a frozen yogurt place called Swirl. This is a special place because here's what you do: put any frozen yogurt into a cup, add toppings, then pay by the ounce. You can have as little or as much as you want. It was such a unique experience and so tasty! After dessert, we went back to their cute, little 3 bedroom, 1 bath house. They're expecting in September, so the baby nursery is immediately to your left when you walk in the door and connected to the nursery is little hidden room that they've turned into a guest room. I loved that hidden nook of a room! We sat and visited with them for a bit before heading out toward Lincoln City at 3:30.

We got to our hotel and it was such a nice, cozy room. It has a small living area with a hideaway bed/couch, a "fireplace" heater and the window looks right out on the beach. There's no A/C but none is really needed since the high temp each day was a cool 60-65 degrees at the very highest. We just open our windows and let the cool ocean breezes blow through--of course, it gets kinda chilly in the evening, so we light the fire heater with the window open and it's a great combination. The bedroom is right next to the door when you walk into the room so it's kinda far away from the open window in the living room. I got kinda warm during the night but all I had to do was stick out one leg out of the covers and I cooled right down.

Today we started the day out with the continental breakfast and then headed on our way to Yaquina Head Lighthouse, about 25 miles out away from Lincoln City, in Newport. It was a beautifully scenic drive, meaning, we stopped a few times along the side of the road to take coastal pictures. The lighthouse seemed kinda small even from far away as we were approaching it. It didn't look nearly as monstrous as the lighthouses there in the Southeast. This is because the lighthouses have to be a certain level above sea level and since the lighthouses on the southeastern coast are at sea level, they have to be that much taller. The ones here in Oregon are already built above sea level so they only have to be about 193 feet (or about 114 steps). We climbed to the top and I was like, "That wasn't so bad...We're already done?" Who'da thunk I'd ever say that after climbing the stairs in a lighthouse??? HA! Anyway, I bought a tshirt and hat combo thing before we had even seen the lighthouse and climbed it and I immediately felt remorseful. The shirt and had said, "I survived the climb at Yaquina Head Lighthouse." Yeah, I more than survived it. I could probably do a couple more times before I got exhausted from it. Oh well, I guess the shirt and hat could be a joke. ;)

Before the lighthouse, we walked down into the tide pools to look at the various wildlife that exists in the shallow waters when the tide goes out. We saw mussels galore, hermit crab things, a small crab and one starfish!! However, we couldn't stay down there much longer because the smell was a little strong of yesterdays fish. Ick. We had a great time though.

We left Yaquina (pronounced Yuh-quinn-uh, just in case you had been wondering since I first typed it) and went into the town of Newport for lunch at a place called Local Ocean Seafood. MMMMMMMMM...We both had a crab po'boy and a cup of sweet and sour crab soup. Yum-O! The best sandwich I have ever tasted. I wanted to keep tasting it over and over again. You'll be proud of us though, the sandwiches came with a side of fries...We each ate only 3 fries and then pushed the rest away and didn't eat anymore. We were done. We left and walked down the drag of nic-nac stores full of mugs, tshirts and kites. We bought a big Oregon mug and called it a day from Newport. We came back to the hotel and decided our next move. Ate dinner at a place called Mo's, which EVERYONE and their brother had been recommending to us. "You gotta go to Mo's...We love that place...yadda yadda yadda"....Well, we went. Not that great. The food was bland and the restaurant was crowded and loud. We had to sit right next to another family, right up close to them to point of we could've had a conversation with them. We probably should've but it was awkward. Anyway, we didn't really enjoy it all that much. :/

That's about it for today's and yesterday's adventures. It's a beautiful place here but here's the good part...you wanna know what the temperature is right now? In August? 55 flippin' degrees!!!!! Whoa..

Alrighty, good night ya'll.

Random thought for the day

People abuse the word "pray". Such as:
Please pray for my son/daughter--he/she has (state mundane oddity such as hangnails, headaches, selling items at garage sales, etc...).

There are more but I don't want to write all the weird stuff I hear. Why don't we pray for something that is really important such as disease and getting well soon from these diseases; for protection while going into battle? For having the strength and patience to deal with unemployment? For tough divorces/separations or death? For things that actually have some emotional or physical weight on people's minds???

I mean, you can pray for whatever you want on your own time but if you keep asking for people to pray for superficial stuff, pretty soon it's like crying wolf--people will stop listening to you and not pray for you at all, except for maybe praying that you'll shut your mouth-ha!! This is just some observations I have made over a short time period--stuff I've seen on facebook or heard stories about... Thanks for listening to my little venting session.

*The phrase I like to use is "please send happy thoughts or vibes/cross your fingers for such and such (that fits better with the more "lighter" issues that we face on a daily basis--and that could even go for things like interviews)...


Which reminds me: Please cross your fingers all this next week and the following for me. I would like to get a call for an interview sometime soon, as school is starting at the end of this month for Boise schools. :)

Job Interview, Peruvian Independence and future trip to Oregon coast...

The past couple of weeks since I updated last have been pretty non-eventful but here's what has happened:
1.) I had a job interview at an elementary school to replace a friend of mine, Mandy Halliburton. I haven't heard anything from it yet because the principal said that the district is sort of in a holding pattern. He can interview people, he just can't hire them yet til he gets word that he can from the district. The interview went well, however. He also said some things that could make me feel like he'll hire me but I don't want to get my hopes up too high. He said he'll let me know within a week to two weeks and then here's what he said that made my ears perk: "If you get any other offers, (which, I have not yet--he was my first call but I didn't let him know that) then I'll just have to deal with it." Now, how would you have taken that piece of information? Anyway, the interview had him, a 3rd grade teacher and a PARENT in there. I've NEVER had a parent in an interview! That was a bit intimidating but I didn't let that get to me. All went well and I'm optimistic so far. :)

2.) This past Sunday, Kyle and I were invited to celebrate Peruvian Independence Day by my friend, Marcela (also she's my Zumba instructor) and her husband, Brian. We all met at Lucky Peak Park, where there were picnic tables and a small swimming beach. We got there and food was all lined up on the table. The food was absolutely delicioso!! We had potatoes drizzled with aji amarillo sauce (kind of peruvian pepper sauce), arroz con pollo (chicken with rice), some other dishes that I couldn't catch the name of that were ALL very tasty and full of spice--although, it wasn't so spicy that it burned your tongue. It was a gentle spice with a little kick. We loved eating it all!! I definitely would love to eat some more peruvian food if the chance came around again. After eating, we played a few rounds of volleyball and then it was time for water play. The water here in Idaho (doesn't matter if it's 100+ degrees out) is FRIGID!!! We walked into the water and it was like little knives poking into your legs. We finally took the final plunge and got all the way into the water. AHHHH!!! In the middle of this little body of water is a huge fountain spraying up even colder water and everybody goes to get under it. So we did too and it was SOOOOO COOOOOLD!!!! We had a lot of fun though. The people at this little celebration were so welcoming and friendly. We're so glad we got to be a part of this gathering.

*Due to our enjoyment of these cultural dishes, Kyle and I tried our hand at making a peruvian dish (Arroz con pollo). It turned out pretty good. The only thing we didn't have access to was the aji amarillo pepper. So, we used a couple of jalapenos (surprisingly, it wasn't way too spicy--in fact, you really didn't notice the jalapeno in it)! Next time, we'll see if we can get ahold of the special peppers.

3.) On Monday, Kyle and I will be heading out early on our final vacation of the summer to the Oregon coast. We'll be staying in Lincoln City, near the beach. On the way, I have a college classmate and her husband (Lydia and Matt) that we will meet up with for lunch in Portland. I'm sure we will take many pictures and have a great time. We're excited!!!

That's about it for now. Just thought I'd catch ya'll up with what's going on so far.

Four years!

We had a wonderful date night getaway for our 4 year anniversary! The best part about it was the fact that it was only 15 minutes away from our house. We made reservations at the Oxford Suites Hotel and then we had dinner reservations at the neighboring restaurant, Tucanos, a Brazilian Grill restaurant. The restaurant was pretty pricey but not too bad for all you get. $20 buys you unlimited salad festival bar and unlimited meat rotations. The rotation went like this: you have a red and green ended block and when you're ready for the rotation of meats to begin, you flip the block to green. When you need a break from rotation, then flip it to red. Although when we flipped our block to red, the guy still came over and gave us more so they probably don't pay much attention to what color your block is anyway. ha! The salad bar was wonderful! There were all sorts of new foods to be tasted--I revisited hardboiled quail eggs--they were so good!! They have probably about 60-80 choices of things to eat. I think if we go back, I will just get the salad bar. The meats weren't so great. They were really fatty and greasy. Not what we expected. We're not used to eating that much fatty, greasy meats. So now I feel kinda sick to my stomach, not to mention, when we got home this morning, the house was really stinky because I had forgotten that I had put a chicken container in the trash and didn't take the trash out. It smelled DISGUSTING. Like that sickly sweet sewer smell. BARF!!

Anyway, after we rolled our fat filled stomachs (reminds me of Templeton the rat from "Charlotte's Web" after he scarfed down so much carnival food) out the door, we headed back to our hotel. We needed to go to the room and stretch out to let the food settle. After we started feeling better, we went down to the lower lobby for a wine reception. When you check in, they give you 2 tix each for the wine reception and you can choose from wine, beer or soda. I had a (light) beer to begin with and Kyle had a Cabernet. We sat on the cozy couches and reminisced about college days and when we first met. Then we took advantage of our second free beverage and I had a Chardonnay and Kyle had another Cab. It was a nice place to have conversation. :) We headed back up to the room for the night to sleep in the luxurious king-sized bed. It was probably the best sleep either of us has gotten even in our own bed at home! SO COMFY!! The hotel is extremely quiet and very nicely decorated. We love that place and have decided that we should do that more often. The price for one night isn't that bad for just a single night out every once in awhile.

So that was our date night. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. Now it's back to reality. Boo.

Thought you might like this..

Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God. I could be eating a slow learner! ~Lynda Montgomery....


Get it???? hahahahahahhahahahaha

Getting ahold of myself...

Well, since the weekend after school ended for the year, I've been trying to regain control of my weight. I was a little more loose in my decisions in what to eat or drink and as a result, I was gaining slowly. Now since I've been back from GA, I've been getting back in control. Last weekend was not as good since I had to pay for WW but this weekend, even though I still had to pay, I still managed to lose 2.8 pounds!!! I started going to a weightlifting class to supplement my high intensity Zumba classes. Once I start building/toning muscle, I will start burning more calories and my weight loss will probably improve! I bought my first strapless dress yesterday and I must say that I look pretty good in it!! It's black and long flowing. I also have a skinny scarf to wrap around th neck and I bought a fun peacock necklace to wear as well. I think I might've found my birthday outfit! :) Once I get all gussied up in the outfit, I'll post a picture.



Oh, as for the pics from camping...yeah, we didn't take any. We forgot the camera. :(

Zumba Waka Waka

Here's the link to our Shakira song, "Waka Waka". We're gonna do another taping next Wednesday because we need to work out a few kinks but it's pretty good so far. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IPEIZpKHeE

Looks fun, doesn't it?

Camping Adventures

Kyle and I are going camping tonight with his coworker, James and his wife, Liz and their baby, Lily. This should be a fun and interesting night. I'm frightened of the possibility of bears. I hope we don't get attacked for our delicious camp food. ;) Kyle wants to bring earplugs so he can sleep better and not hear noises. Well, I'm torn. I want to wear them too but what if a bear comes to our campsite and starts rummaging around and we can't hear it? I'm sure we'll be okay but it's still something to ponder. This will be Lily's first night away from her own bed for sleeping so James is curious to see if she will actually sleep. She's a pretty laid back baby so she'll probably do okay but this is a trial. :) We won't get to the site until well after 8pm probably and then we'll have to set up and get firewood for the campfire. We'll have a very late dinner. I better eat a late lunch. Tomorrow we'll try to do some stuff around the area: canoeing or walking or maybe fishing, who knows?

However, I MUST get back home for 7:30pm Zumba class because we're doing something really cool tomorrow night. See, it's World Cup Soccer time and the singer, Shakira, has posed a challenge to everyone in the world: make up a Zumba routine for her song, "Waka Waka" (you can look on www.youtube.com for this song and see the responses that people have posted) and post your group dancing to her song on the youtube site. So, my instructor, Marcela, is going to tape us tomorrow night and then post us on youtube. As soon as I see it posted, I'll link ya'll to it so you can see us in action. :) What's cool is there this central dance move that all of us have to include in the routine but the other choreography is up to our instructors. I can't wait! I don't want to miss this so I'll probably be watching my clock tomorrow so that we can get back in time for me to change for class.

Anyway, we will probably take pictures and videos of us camping and I'll try to post them here when we get back. Until then, I must go earn some activity points so that I can partake in some s'mores tonight. :)

2.48!!!

I finished my half marathon today at 2:48!! That's good because it's pretty close to my first half marathon time--and that first time was with a TON of training. This time, I didn't train much but that's okay. I had plenty of aerobic endurance due to many Zumba classes and other aerobic exercising. My hip started hurting around the 3rd mile and I thought, "Oh no, here we go.." Then my pinky toes began to hurt around the 9th mile and I just kept pushing through it all. I did do something different this time. I bought these things called "Gu Chomps". They're like fruit snack pieces that athletes use to get energy during strenuous exercise. I bought some of those and took them with me on this run in a little pouch. Everytime I started to feel weakened, I chewed on 4 of those and it helped me get through it. If anything, it gave me something to think about other than "Oh my god, I'm gonna die." I also had some really good, driving beat music that got me through more than half of the race. I had a really good time though. The route was beautiful! I'm totally convinced that my time for the last half marathon in Seattle (3:15) was because the route repeated itself a couple of times, meaning I had to retrace my steps twice during the race due to how they created the route.

Anyway, my knee joints are hating me right now and so are my leg muscles but I don't care. However, guess I better go soak for a little bit in an ice bath for about 10-15 minutes (that's what I read in a runner's magazine). Supposedly the cold constricts the blood vessels, thus reduces the recovery time. :) We'll see. I'll let you know if it works.

Back home again

We got back home Wednesday afternoon! It's good to be back in our own bed--so comfy! Especially since I did laundry and put the sheets in the wash, so now the sheets are so nice and soft and clean smelling! :) Always a plus!

Some exciting news: there were 2 more positions available that I qualify for. One is an ELL position and the other is a Title I teacher (normally I don't think I really qualify for this, but all the position asked for was an ELL or Bilingual Ed. endorsement--well, here I am)! Ya'll know what an ELL teacher does so I won't explain that but a Title I teacher is possibly the same kind of thing but they teach children of all backgrounds (i.e. ELL, children who need a little more help in grasping concepts and maybe even some special ed kids). Anyway, they do the pullout model, which is the teacher gets small groups of kids for anywhere between 30-60 minutes and gives a more intensive learning lesson based on the skill that is being taught in the classroom. I have little experience with this since I worked as a Title I tutor at an elementary school. It was fun most of the time and I got to know a lot of kids out of each grade. It's good to get to know a variety of kids sometimes so you're not stuck so much in one particular subject. Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE teaching ELL but sometimes it's nice to have some variety along with it. :) Anyway, I entered my applications and now we'll just have to sit back and see what happens.

Kyle is back to the grind of work. I think he likes getting back into the routine of work. Yesterday was hard for him though because he didn't get lunch until 5pm! His supervisor was out, a coworker had an appointment at 1pm and then the other coworker that was supposed to be there was out of the fab for about 5 or 6 hours! He was taking a class that was not relevant to their work right now and he was doing it during work hours...he really shouldn't do that. Anyway, that left Kyle to tend to many problems--too many for him to handle all at once by himself. He was frustrated but he'll move on, he says. :)

Well, gotta finish my lunch, mow the grass/edge and finish up some house cleaning today. Then, I'm fixin spaghetti for dinner probably because I got my half marathon tomorrow and want to have a lot of energy for it. The race starts at 8am (mountain time) and I should be done no later than 3 hours from that time. It'd be nice to finish before 3 hours though but with my latest record, don't know if that will happen. But I will stay optimistic!

Summer, summer, summer time!

It's summertime!! I'm happy to have a break now...however, I do realize that it also means the end of another job. My screening (perceiver) interview went pretty well on Monday. They sent me an email the next day saying that I was now in the system for principals to call me and set up official interviews. Still waiting on that...yeah.


Let's see.. The last week of school went pretty smoothly. Monday we had just a regular schedule day but then Tuesday through Thursday were exam days. I got my exams graded pretty quickly and did everything I was supposed to do in order to leave the room clean and orderly.

Oh yeah! My friend Amanda Farner and I went to Seattle last weekend to run a half marathon and the weather turned out BEAUTIFUL! We were afraid that it would be rainy and cold but it actually was quite the opposite! Boise got a bunch of rain/snow on Saturday while Seattle was brisk and sunny. It was the perfect running weather. We both ran very well for not having trained hardly enough. She was about 3 minutes later than me crossing the finish line (3.15 and 3.18, respectively). That was slower than I had done in my past 2 races but that's ok. I'm not in it for the time, just the fitness and accomplishment of running 13.1 miles.. :) Anyway, I have another half marathon on June 19th that I really need to keep my endurance up for and continue my running. The thing that hurt me the most this last time were my hips and toes (blisters). My muscles were pretty sore but my knees did wonderfully. They didn't hurt me at all this time. Let's keep that up. After the race on Saturday, we were all planning on just going to the room to relax and recover a little and then we had thought that we'd get all gussied up and go out for a night on the town...nope. Didn't happen. We got in our comfy clothing, took a nap/shower and then threw on sweat shirts and jeans and tried to hobble over to some stores at Pike's Market. We walked in the crowds of the market for a little while and then decided that it was time to head back to the hotel area to get something to eat for dinner. We tried to do some shopping but our bodies were not agreeing to that. Oh well, saved some money that day-ha! We left on Sunday morning and got back about 6:30pm that evening. It was a great trip with a great friend. She wants to do it again, surprisingly. I had told her that she would either love or hate the whole experience of a half marathon and it turns out, she loved it. As soon as she crossed the finish line and sat down for a minute, she said, "I want to do another one." HA!


Kyle wants to do one. He's starting to feel left out of the whole half marathon experience. He's done a 10K with me and a 5K but no marathoning. He wants to really do one. I think he wants to do the City of Trees with me this next October. The problem is that he'll be on night shift by then and that makes it difficult but I think he's willing to take a few days off for it in order to participate.


Anyway, school's out and I'm happy and Kyle's on day shift for the summer so everything's good.

YAY!

I just got an email today that said that my name showed up on a list for a screening interview for an ESL position in the Boise school district!!! My interview will be on Monday at 4pm--perfect timing because I don't even have to leave class early to make it on time! It must be a sign...now to make myself extremely marketable and wanted...

Two possible options

I've just applied to 2 ELL jobs:

One at an elementary school and one at Boise High!! The one at the elementary school closed last Tuesday and I haven't heard anything yet and the one at Boise High was just posted today and won't close until this weekend. I'm thinkin' that the one at Boise High will be a definite interview (hopefully) since I longterm subbed last Spring! YEEEEE!!!!! I really hope I get a call! Wouldn't that be great if I got a job offer before the summer even began?? No stressing over the summer...aahhhhh that would be great. Absolutely awesome...but I better be careful right now and not get my hopes up too high.

And then there were none

Our birdies are dead. All babies have somehow fallen out of the nest and died. I guess the mom and dad will think twice next time about making a nest on a front door.

Job lost...possible job found

I'm sure you've all heard by now that next year I won't be working at Caldwell HS anymore. They talked to me about a month ago to tell me this and I was sorta devastated. I knew it was a possibility so it wasn't a complete surprise but still. It hurt a little. So, Friday while I was in the language lab with my kids, I was scanning the school websites to see if there were any other job positions available because there hadn't been many for my field posted yet. Well, lo and behold, there was a position open to everybody who wanted to appy for an ELL teacher at an elementary school!!!! You better believe that I quickly put that position on my online application! I quickly emailed the 3 people I had asked for recommendation letters to see if they could get me the letters a little sooner than when I had asked for them. I hoped they would understand since the closing date for the position was a mere few days (this coming Tuesday). After the position closes, that's when I guess they decide who to call or who not to call. So, keep your fingers crossed, ladies and gentlemen!! Maybe I'll hear something by the end of the week! :)

Remaining eggs hatched

Front-door birds keep laying

We now have seven eggs in our front door nest. If she keeps laying, they're going to start falling out. You can't see the 7th egg because it is underneath the ones in the front.

Looks like they forgot to lay one!

There's one more egg in there! I guess Mama Bird realized she had one more up in there....

Our new addition(s)

CUTE!! We have birdies! They're nesting in our door wreath!

We tried it again

Happy Easter!! We went to the church down the road from us (Ten Mile Christian Church). It was a good service and very low key. No fanatic stuff that freaks us out. We actually kinda liked the service and there seemed to be a well-rounded population there, in regards to age and whatnot. We just might have to try it again on a non-holiday Sunday to see the true behavior. ;) hehehe..

After church, we cooked out for our lunch. We made ranch-flavored burgers (just meat and a ranch dressing packet mixed together--quite tasty), grilled asparagus with sprinkled minced garlic on top, and potato wedges brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with seasoned salt, paprika, and garlic salt---YUMMY!! By far, it was the best lunch ever. And it tasted so fresh! Couldn't get that fresh taste at a hamburger joint. For my hamburger bun, I used one of those sandwich slims (100 cal, 1 g fat, 5 g fiber) and toasted it for extra crunch--it makes for an excellent hamburger bun substitution without feeling gypped. In fact, so many times, the bun has so much bread that you can't even enjoy the flavor of the meat so these slims are just perfect for me! We each drank one beer to top it all off. It seemed appropriate enough anyway--burgers and beer. :)


School starts again tomorrow for me and it's back to the grind. I believe I have about 39 more days of school til summer vacation! Yay!! It'll go really fast. I hope that within these next 39 days, I'll find out if I truly have a job for next year. They better tell me soon. I'm anxious.

Holy guacamole!

It's definitely been awhile since I posted so I figured I'd grace ya'll with a nice long post of what all has been happening lately.


I finished my capstone course and paper (well, the paper's not completely finished--just have to make some adjustments and then it's done) but the presentation is done and it went splendidly! Kyle was doting on me after the presentation about how proud he was of me and how my paper definitely sparked most of the discussions in the room. Most of the questions were directed at me or some part of my paper. I loved it! I was nervous as hell though! When I started presenting, I felt like I was either going to crack up laughing or start crying. It was weird! But I got through it and it was an awesome feeling to finish my Master's. We went out to dinner afterwards and now I'm able to relax with nothing floating over my head, with the exception of finalizing my paper and submitting a hard copy to the Bilingual/ESL department at BSU.


Kyle has still been truckin' along on night shift and he gets depressed so easily because he's never awake for the sunshine. He's upset that he can't spend enough time with me but it's okay. That's just how life is sometimes and he'll advance someday so that he can get on a regular work schedule. I think that's also one of the (many) reasons we're holding off so long on having babies because it'd be so hard on both of us for him to be switching from days to nights. His coworker, James and his wife, have a baby and it's difficult for them to see each other and to have equal help with the baby. They're lucky that Lily is such a good baby! I can't imagine otherwise.


On the weightloss front, I've been kinda struggling with it. Frustrations with work exhaustion and not wanting to exercise as much as I used to are the factors. Unfortunately with work exhaustion/stress, I also tend to eat more. I've been recognizing this problem for awhile but I just seem to recognize the problem and then just push it aside and continue on. I've been trying so hard and my weight seems to not go anywhere except for either the same or a little higher. I had to pay last weekend at the meeting because I had exceeded my "goal" weight. The good thing though is that I only technically have to weigh in once a month even though I had to pay this time. I have time to get my weight lower before the next weigh-in next weekend. It's spring break this coming week so I better behave--I can do it. People sometimes say that it's harder to lose weight when you're staying at home because food is always available. Well, I sorta agree with that but at the same time, I believe it's sometimes harder to not eat more when you're working. Sure, when I'm at work, I only have the food that's available for me in my lunch sack but by the end of the day, I'm so hungry and tired that when I come home, I'm an eating machine and will look for anything to eat. I mean, I make the right choices about food (most of the time) because we hardly keep any junk food in the house, except for the occasionaly cookie dough in the fridge, but for the most part, we're pretty well behaved in our grocery habits. However, with that said, I tend to eat too much of the good stuff--past my full point. That's not good. Anyway, I think summer and break times from school are a little easier for me because 1.) I'm not as stressed and tired and hungry; and 2.) I have more time for exercise and more energy for it. I've got a running schedule that I have to follow now because a good friend of mine from work and I are going to run a 1/2 marathon together near the end of May in Seattle. This is her first one and she said that I inspired her to do it so she wants to do it with me. We're all paid up and so there's no turning back. I gotta do it for myself and for her! This'll be my 3rd 1/2 marathon and then I'm running another one on June 19th. Oh holy cow! What have I done????? Well, at least I'll be starting out the summer well-exercised! ha! The one thing I have to watch out for though for myself is workout burnout. I did that to myself right after my first 1/2 marathon and it wasn't pretty. I did not want to set foot in the gym ever again because I had exercised so much before the race that I had gotten completely bored! It was a terrible feeling! I'm taking it easy now and enjoying Zumba class (now that there is a cute, new little Latina girl teaching the class). She's got so much energy and she's so coordinated and knows what she's doing--that makes all the difference! I'm loving it again right now. It gives me something to look forward to in between my running days. I've been bummed though lately because the weather's been iffy. One day it's beautiful (and that happens to be a day where I can't get outside due to school obligations) and then the next day where I have the opportunity to get out, it's windy and cloudy and cold. I hate that point here in Idaho when it's starting to turn into spring and it does this shizophrenic thing between extremely nice days and windy, crappy days. I can't wait til it becomes more constant springtime.


In other news, the Knitwitz are doing a great job! We're just knitting away! We've gotten several hats made and donated, as well as scarves and blankets (they were crocheted by a boy and donated)! We're going to make tie-dye tshirts after spring break sometime when the weather decides to behave. I'll take them outside and we'll dye our shirts! I can't wait! My senior hat project for myself is coming along. I've made about 7 or 8 already and have about 4 or 5 left to make. About 3 or 4 of them have to be black though because that's what those kids wanted. I asked them and was like, "Are you sure you just want all black? It's so boring of a color!" hahahaha...It is so boring to knit just all one color. I like to mix it up and but at least one other color in there or use that mult-colored yarn so that every loop or row that I make on the hat is a surprise! :)


Last night I made a healthy cheesecake. Found the recipe in one of my exercise magazines. It's a chocolate swirl cheesecake and it's awesome! I just tried a little piece and I was skeptical at first but it actually is pretty tasty! Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Cheesecake
(makes 14 servings--really? If you cut it into TINY pieces, I guess)

1/2 c. crushed graham crackers
2 tbsp. butter, melted
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3/4 c. fat-free milk
2 8-oz pkgs. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1 8-oz pkg. fat free cream cheese, softened
8oz. fat free sour cream
1/3 c. sugar (I used Splenda)
2 tsp. vanilla
4oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Chocolate curls

1. In a bowl, stir together the graham crackers and butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan. Chill while preparing the filling.

2. In a saucepan, sprinkle the gelatin over the milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Stir over low heat until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat; cool for 15 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheeses with a mixer until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, sugar and vanilla; gradually beat in the gelatin mixture. Divide the cream cheese mixture in half; gradually stir the melted chocolate into one half.

4. Spread half of the chocolate mixture on the crust. Spoon half of the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the chocolate mixture in small mounds; swirl them together with a butter knife.

5. Spread the remaining chocolate mixture on top. Spoon on the remaining cream cheese mixture, and swirl again. Cover; chill for 6 hours or until set.

6. Loosen the cake from the pan with a knife before removing the side of the pan. Cut the cake into wedges; top with chocolate curls.

Nutrition (for 1 slice): 216 cal, 17 g carbohydrates, 13 g fat (7 g saturated), 1 g fiber

I used a plain pie pan instead of a springform and it worked out okay, I think. I was able to get the slice out of the pan without any problems really but I better get a springform just in case I make this again and see how much it changes (if it does at all).

Well, I hope this entry was enough for ya'll. I'm pretty tired and have a pounding headache. I think I might go take a nap now to get my spring break started out right. :) We're leaving for Reno, Nevada on Sunday morning to take a short trip and get out of the house. I'm sure there'll be pictures in store.

One step closer...

I just posted my almost final draft to the discussion board so EVERYBODY can read it now. The people that will read it will be in attendance to the capstone presentation on this coming Tuesday afternoon, 3-6pm. I'm nervous but I did just get back from meeting a classmate to discuss details about how we should present. It was basically for moral support. We've found out though that we probably shouldn't even glance at each other, else we start laughing hysterically. That would not be good...funny, yes, but not good. Anyway, Kyle will be in attendance as well. He might be bored out of his gourd before it's over with but he'll be there to support me--AND take me out to dinner after all is said and done. After I jump this hurdle, I will have pretty much completed my Master's with the glorious Boise State University (good riddens! I can't wait to run far, far away from that campus and its professors!).

Graduation is May 15th from 10-12pm at the Taco Bell Arena. I'm guessing it'll be inside since the arena is...well, indoors. That'll be nice. It'll also be excellent to have Mommy and Daddy there! :) YAY!

Such a Tragedy

I got the saddest news yesterday morning. Candice Smith passed away yesterday at 11am. She will be missed by all and we know she's in a better place now and no longer injured. This sure makes you think just how fragile life can be. I was reading the prayer page today and saw something that was definitely a different way to look at the whole thing. This person said that "She must've been a special person to be called home so soon." Maybe we can think about it in this light and believe that God wanted Candice to help him up there in Heaven. Goodbye, Candice. Rest in Peace.

Conferences-shmonferences

I'm sitting here at parent/teacher conferences and am bored out of my gourd. We finally were able to access the internet on our personal laptops. At first I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to and that I would've brought my laptop for no reason and wasted the energy, but finally somebody gave us access to it. I'm happy now.

I'm also knitting a scarf. It's for the Special Olympics. It's cherry red and heather gray and it's a skinny tube scarf. They want us to submit any scarves that we've made by March 9th and I don't know if I'll make it but it's worth trying, right? I was going to have my Knitwitz try but I also don't think they can make it in time. If anything, maybe we can do it next year--provided I'm here next year. :)


I think tomorrow I'll knock out my lesson plans and work on my paper during the next session (8-11:30am).

Is it working?

So I got word that the video wasn't working, however, it's working for me... I don't know what to do. I'm not that technologically advanced in my skills--I just know how to upload it and press play--haha! Anyway, I guess my only advice to you is to keep trying to play the video? Refresh the window? I dunno...if you get it to work though or if you don't, it's just Lily doing the cutest tongue thing. She looks like a lizard. :)

Isn't she cute???? Miss Lillybean.

T-minus about 1 month

I had my last official class meeting yesterday before I present my paper! Final presentation is March 16, 2010 at 3pm til 6pm.


I babysat today for the cutest little girl, Lily Woods. She's so cute! She's going to be 1 year old in April, I think. She's already learned to pick her nose but luckily, she doesn't pull anything out. hahaha! I took a couple of videos of her so maybe I'll upload them soon so you can see her.

I'm ready for some warmer weather and summer vacation

The title says it all...

I'm ready for a break from it all!

By the way, just finished hat #7. 6 more, I think. :/ :)

STRESS ATTACK!!

I'm absolutely freaking out right now! Don't ask my why I'm taking time to post an entry when I should be working on stuff right now. I guess that's just my procrastination method--have a lot to do, so I run away and do other things such as post blogs, facebook or sleep. I have lesson plans to do before tomorrow, which should be as bad as I'm making them out to be since we don't have school on Friday AND tomorrow is a shortened schedule due to an assembly but still. They're impending. Also, I have to do a lot of work on my master's final paper. I am not thrilled to be reading through my paper over and over again to make corrections/additions or deletions. Do you know how boring it is to do that? I already wrote it once and now I have to improve it by adding and subtracting stuff. Ew. Anyway, I'll be glad when it's all over and I present it. Although, the presentation's going to be quite a doozy too. I'll probably sick to my stomach nervous that day. In fact, the presentation is on March 16th, 3-6pm. I'm going to have to leave my 5th period a little early so that I can get to BSU a little before 3pm. Luckily, I have an adult aide in there that I think will be able to handle the kids for the last few minutes of class. :) *sigh* Guess I better get back to work and get these lesson plans out of the way.