I have a new job!

I finally got my placement for next year! I'm going to be working at Fair Oaks Elementary. Now this means about as much to you as it does to all of you faithful readers in Omaha. But it means that I have a job! Yay!

I went to see the Sex and the City movie tonight. It was cute. I'm not going to lie - I liked it just fine. I never really watched the series, so I wasn't as into it as some were. I don't have the energy right now for a diatribe about what that movie says about how morally low our society has sunk, but trust me I'm thinking it. Which is not to say that I didn't go out to see it and then go out for cosmos with the girls like a significant portion of the women in Richmond tonight. What that says about me is something else I don't have the energy to think about...

My job in a nutshell

Me to kindergartener: "Sweetheart, I love it when you give me hugs. But sometimes you need to listen to my directions instead of hugging me."

Kindergartener thinks about it for a minute and replies "You have blue eyes"

Picture me banging my head on a brick wall here........



This is a conversation from the other K teacher's class

(We have been reviewing for end of year tests, including the difference in things that are in the past and things that are in the present. The kids have just been watching Pippi Longstocking)

Someone else's kindergarteners: "We were talking and we decided that movie took place in the past because.... (insert something I can't remember here). Also, teachers in the past were ugly and mean. And the kindergarten teachers at our school are beautiful and nice"

Does this seem fair to you?

Life goes on

I think I'm going to kill my internet connection. I don't know if that's possible, but I'm going to hunt it down and try. It's going soooo sllllooooooowwwww lately that I keep giving up on getting the blogger page to load and posting. Tonight I waited it out. And this super-exciting new post is YOUR reward!

So I've just been plugging along. Doing well with the eating and exercising some days, not as well the others. Still working on it.

I had a GREAT time in Charleston with my whole family over the long Memorial Day weekend! They're all fun, of course, but Abby is just cuter and sweeter and funner and greater every time I see her. She's saying lots of words now (like "Say-Say") and repeating everything. She has a definite mind of her own. She likes to drink from a straw, but her mom makes her leave the cup on the table. She does NOT want anyone to help hold the cup or arrange the straw. You should see her try to get it all arranged and then lean down to take a sip while the straw is where she wants it. She's such a little girl now, and not a baby at all.

I gave my first Henrico Assessment Test (HAT) today. I am apalled that Henrico Co. expects us to give these things (and with several other things about them), and have been completely stressed about it. But I think my kids did well, so that's good. I'm not even going to go into the details of the ridiculousness of it all because it will probably bore you. But, trust me, it's completely awful.

So here's what I've decided. Each day, in addition to the normal getting-through-the-day life activities, I'm going to try and accomplish 4 things:

1. Something with God (prayer, devotion time, an act of service or caring that clearly doesn't come from me, etc.)
2. Something for my health (exercising, trying a new recipe, meeting with one of my many support people, etc.)
3. Something for school (make progress on an ongoing project, clean off something, etc)
4. Something for my house (clean a room, pay a bill, organize something, etc)

Obviously that's a lot of et. ceteras. We'll see what comes up each day. I'm not going to try and accomplish big things each day. Just small things in each area of my life where I need to make progress. And I'll see if that helps me get hold of it and bring my life under control a little bit. (I'm such a control freak - why do you think I became a teacher? Who's in charge in that room all day? ME)

Stay tuned for the results.... (but don't hold your breath. It may be a while. And I don't want to be responsible for any deaths and/or brain damage)

Cheating

Hi from Charleston!  I just got here (around 10 pm) so I won't get to see that sweet baby until morning.  I can't wait!

I totally cheated tonight.  On the way here, I did something I haven't done in a long time - stopped at McDonalds for dinner.  I haven't had McDs in 6 weeks since I started all of the special diets.  Also - I got a Diet Coke!  I haven't had one since I gave them up 2 months ago. And guess what? It was gross. Hated it.  All of it - even the coke.  I couldn't even eat it.  Before I would eat it when I wasn't even hungry.

So I guess I really am changing, which is a good thing.  I know I have to be careful so I don't change back.  But it makes me feel like I really can do this thing.  I've been worried because one of the benefits of the RNY surgery is that you get sick when you eat things you shouldn't.  In the past, that hasn't exactly stopped me from eating them.  But tonight I learned that it can.  And it will.

Happy long weekend!

Total meltdown

I completely melted down today. I'm so tired from running, running, running all the time and trying to think about what I'm eating and getting my exercise in and all the other 1,000,000 things that go along with preparing for this surgery in addition to the job and being in a new city and all. Of course, I had less than 5 minutes for my meltdown. So I don't know if that really counts or not.

Here's what prompted the meltdown - I fell in the shower. I had about 20 minutes to shower and get ready to go back out (cards with the girls!) and I got in and fell down. *Side note - I've been feeling very off-balance lately. I've almost fallen several times. Hmmmm* I wasn't hurt, but it shook me up. You know how falling can do that? And I did grab the shower curtain on the way back down and it pulled the rod out of the wall a little bit so now I have to call and get them to fix that.

Here's what I melted about - I went to work out with Bryan today and it was fine. He weighed me and I've lost 5 pounds since last week. Which is great. I know it is. I'm excited about it. It means that, since the liver shrinking diet, I've lost a total of 20 pounds (some of those pounds I've lost twice - put them back on and lost them again :) ) Which I am happy about. But here's the thing - I still don't look any different. I don't feel any different. And even my clothes aren't fitting me any better. There are two things I do notice - I fit into my jeans straight out of the dryer. (But once they're on, they feel the same as they did before once I had worn them a little bit) And I have to work harder to get my heart rate up. Which I know is a good sign, but all it really means is I'm working out really hard and my heart rate is like "*yawn* whatever. I'll just stay here in this mediocre range" Shouldn't I at least feel better or have more energy or something? Or my clothes feel a little loose? Generally, losing 20 pounds will take you down a whole size! Maybe my clothes were just really tight before...

P.S. - I'm still completely obsessed with the song "My Jesus" Don't ask me why. Just love it.

Abby's Favorite Aunt!

Guess who said my name today?!?!?! I was talking to my sister, and she told Abby to say Sarah and she clearly went "Say-Say!" She was excited, too. You could tell :) Kay said they look at my picture when they practice saying it. I am soooooo excited! I will happily be Say-Say, or whatever else she wants to call me. She's so sweet - I can't wait to go down there this weekend!

I had a busy weekend. I had some friends from Charlottesville graduate from med school (and they're younger than I am - scary!) so I went down for that party. I also spent a good bit of time working on cleaning my house. It is such a disaster - I am lucky that it's so small :) But tomorrow they're coming to clean the carpets,so I have to have everything in order.

I've started tracking my meals at http://www.thedailyplate.com and I've found it really easy to use. My nut wanted me to do a food diary and you know me - why write it down when I can do it online?

Off to Bill's to spend my teacher appreciation gift certificates for dinner!

Getting my butt kicked by 10 year olds!

I have such a hard time with taking things slowly - I've been working out with Bryan for about 2 months now, so I am convinced that I should be able to do anything at all! Um, that is definitely not true. Remember how Zumba kicked my butt last week? So, ask me what I did. Go ahead. (And no, I didn't go back to Zumba)

I tried a different class. Basic Step. An introductory class. Advertised as "family friendly". There were three 10 year olds there - fresh from field day, no less! They kicked my butt. Totally kicked it. I'm not even going to mention their perfectly-clad high-energy jumping around mothers. I had to stop several times "for water". And I did some of the exercises on the floor instead of using the step. DANG it was hard work. Of course my heart rate was way too high, so that was another reason I took some water breaks. Live and learn. I'm pretty good and the living part - it's the "learning" I'm having trouble with. Remind me not to go back and do that again, ok?

Today was my least favorite assembly in the history of the world. The Snake Man came to Pemberton. EEWWWW it makes me feel yucky just looking at those words. Needless to say, I did NOT go. My teammates watched my kids for me but it creeped me out just knowing they were in the building and listening to my kids talk about it. Ok, can't tell you anymore. I feel nightmares coming on.

My new water bottle came yesterday! On Dawn's recommendation, I ordered a Sigg water bottle. Mine looks like this:

I'm super excited about it and had fun carrying it around today. I'll admit, I like it because it's pretty :) But it's a good water bottle, too and we all know how important water is! I need to order the thing that goes around it with a caribiner attached, though, to make it easier to carry.
I also ordered an awesome lunch bag since I have to take my lunch now. Although you can see it's awesomeness from the picture, when I tell you that it has a zipper, you'll be even more wowed by it. Ready? It has a zipper. A red one.Clearly, I still need to work on short posts. Oh, well. It is about 8:15 on a Friday night and I'm about to head off to bed. It has been a busy, busy week.