This blog is quickly becoming more about my students, than it is me. However, this conversation today was too hilarious not to mention. I didn't become a teacher to get sworn at. I DID become a teacher to be adored...read on...
Seeing as how my students are still in school...while the rest of the world, at least American schools, okay, maybe just schools in Eugene, in the Bethel School District, is on Winter Break, my students, are still required to come today and tomorrow. They are handling it pretty well, but I promised them last week that we'd have plenty of fun "non-school" (read: hidden academics) things to do. It's funny how during these tasks kids open up and begin asking questions and talking your head off. While mixing up dough this afternoon, (read: learning how to read a recipe and measure flour with a measuring cup - see!? Educational!) one of my students engaged me in conversation.
Male student: "Judy, are you married?"
Me: "No."
Male student: "See? I don't get that. You're like a great girl. "
Me: (laughs and possibly gave the student a concerned look)
Male student: "I mean, I don't like you, 'cause that'd be weird but still, you're like really nice."
Me: ('whew!' and more laughs) "Thanks, bud, I tend to agree with you on that!"
Male student: "No, seriously, I bet if you started going to yoga studios all over the country, you'd get asked out on at least 10,000 dates"
Me: "Well, that'd be quite an experiment. Maybe I should try that."
Male student: "Yeah, you really should."(student walks away shaking his head in disbelief)
Later, I overhear this same student informing one of his female peers that he's "way out of her league." Puh-lease. There might be a hundred reasons why she's not right for him, but out of her league? I'm not so sure about that.
Today's List: Amount of baggage I'm thankful I won't be checking onto an airplane this holiday break
1. One very large suitcase including but not limited to sweaters, vests, swimwear (I have no idea why, I just feel one should never travel without it) and socks, panties and several pairs of 'lounge wear'
2. One small suitcase of shoes, reading material, crosswords and journal
3. One bag of groceries/snacks and holiday foodstuffs
4. One bag of Christmas presents
5. 2 coats that did not fit in a suitcase
6. One small bag of toiletry items
7. Purse including camera, camera charger, iPod, iPod charger, wallet and chaptstick
Definitely not one my finer hours in packing...Do you think I forgot anything??
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A Twist on "Out of the Mouths of Babes"
I'm not entirely sure that this post has a place on a blog that's allegedly rooted in faith. However, I feel like today's post aptly captures my day-to-day life in the classroom. And, believe you me, I will be praying to this dear child's guardian angel. Maybe you'll join me.
12-14-11 Journal work taken from a student - see my running inner-monologue in parenthesis.
This piece is very accurately entitled: Fuck You All (settle in, it's going to be a good read)
Everyone sucks a lot. (I'll give him credit, he did indent.) I hate everyone. (Ok. Fair enough.) They are ass losers. (K, I have no idea what that is, but it sounds interesting.) They all suck. (Okay, thank you for the clarifying information about the acts of an 'ass loser'.) They can go fuck themself. (Grammar conflict! I rest my case.) That my free thoughts. (And how free they were regardless of, yet, another grammatical error)
Those grammar errors are glaring. You'd think I did nothing everyday! They almost downplay the swearing. Man, that kid is good. I could not pull that off if I tried! Keep in mind this was written at the end of the day, after the student was informed that he would be spending lunches with staff until he could start writing sentences that excluded the word "sucks." Way to take it to the limit! He showed us, boy, oh boy. Welcome to middle school, yeah?
It gave me a laugh. Many of them.
Today's list: Days until Christmas Break, excuse me WINTER break.
4.
12-14-11 Journal work taken from a student - see my running inner-monologue in parenthesis.
This piece is very accurately entitled: Fuck You All (settle in, it's going to be a good read)
Everyone sucks a lot. (I'll give him credit, he did indent.) I hate everyone. (Ok. Fair enough.) They are ass losers. (K, I have no idea what that is, but it sounds interesting.) They all suck. (Okay, thank you for the clarifying information about the acts of an 'ass loser'.) They can go fuck themself. (Grammar conflict! I rest my case.) That my free thoughts. (And how free they were regardless of, yet, another grammatical error)
Those grammar errors are glaring. You'd think I did nothing everyday! They almost downplay the swearing. Man, that kid is good. I could not pull that off if I tried! Keep in mind this was written at the end of the day, after the student was informed that he would be spending lunches with staff until he could start writing sentences that excluded the word "sucks." Way to take it to the limit! He showed us, boy, oh boy. Welcome to middle school, yeah?
It gave me a laugh. Many of them.
Today's list: Days until Christmas Break, excuse me WINTER break.
4.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Forgive me!
*This post dedicated to Gina Gailis.
I really had no idea how long it had been since I wrote. That is, until I attempted signing into my blog and realized not only had I forgotten my email but also my password. Fail. After some searching, and pleading with my memory to come back to me, here I am. I've thought about the ol' blog time and time again (since May) but I've had some difficult struggles with the whole keeping of the blog. For one thing, I feel like a blog of this nature, should do one of two things. It should either A. reveal some sort of truths about the world, questions to ponder, and such, or B. it should be really juicy. The thing is, though, my life is not terribly juicy. Even if it were, my mother reads this. And, I don't even want to think of what repercussions would follow if my brother started following my musings. I'm not trying to give anyone a heart attack. The other part of it is, I'm not a terribly profound, deep thinker. I notice things. I might comment on things that are funny about life and though I spend a considerable amount of time trying to figure out why people do as they do, I do not find it would be of any use for anyone else to read my theories. All of this is leading grandly into what my entire weekend thus far has consisted of...no, not Christmas shopping, though I did do that as well. But, I've been spinning my wheels about life, purpose, drive. What does it all mean?
Typically, I go through the motions of my everyday life. And, I like that! I like having a stable career. I like knowing that I have a job to go to everyday. I am comforted by my routine of work, gym, dinner, sleep, repeat. But, after a recent, very spontaneous trip, I've called into question some of these things. There's more to life out there. I like the routine side of things Monday through Friday but come Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I really have got to figure out how to make something out of those three days that's going to propel myself through the rest of the weekly monotony. This is what happens to me after I do something that I perceive as being fun, and maybe a bit reckless, even. It's like going from cloud nine, back to reality. Reality is no place for Aquarius. It's stifling for her. She'd far rather dwell in the possibilities of things, the hope. Cloud nine is where I'm meant to be, where I want to be. The challenge is in creating my own cloud nine, to have with me all of the time. How do I do that?
For starters, I begin with sleep. After last weekend, I was reminded that cloud nine can be an exhausting place, especially when stimuli is coming at you from every angle. While, invigorating, and stimulating, the brain can only take so much. I needed rest. After my roommate returned home on Thursday, I had the prime setup for calm. I have been spending time cooking each night, lighting candles, and practicing calming the brain. When the brain is tired, it does funny, funny things, that really aren't so funny, actually. My brain is especially tricky and likes to dwell in negativity, for some reason, so I have been working double time in this solitude to make my thoughts positive. For any of you that have ever experienced doing this, and I'm sure most of you have, this can be a brutal war. It seems like I spend so much of the time craving calm, peace, and solitude, and when I get it, I can't wait to have connection to others, chaos, and life! That, in and of itself, becomes a new battle then...am I ever satisfied? What will satisfy me? How can I reach that satisfaction? *Cue Rolling Stones, I can't get no...sa-tis-fac-tion...
And, what if, what if you realize the questions to all of these answers, only to know that what you think will be satisfying, what you think will bring you peace is something you can't attain? For whatever reason, it's right outside of your grasp and you can't have it. Then, what do we do with ourselves? The only thing I can think of is, faith. I have to believe that I am where I am supposed to be, and if I'm not, then some greater power than I, will get me to that place...wherever that place is. I'm trying to believe. Any day now...
How's that for some deep questions? Pondering the meaning of life and all that...I'm sure when Gina asked me to write she was hoping for something a little more uplifting, and it will be, again. I'm certain that by tomorrow my whole view on any number of these questions will have changed again. Truthfully, it'll probably change the minute I post this! I wonder if any of you have ever asked yourselves these questions. Is this simply my quarter-life crisis? If I leave you with but one thing today, take this: shun the practical. embrace the possible.
Today's List: To-Do's...
1. Laundry
2. Shower
3. Eat
4. Drink water
5. Dad's xmas gift
6. Joey's xmas gift
7. Jeanine's xmas gift
8. Complete a crossword puzzle
9. Clean the bathroom
10. Exercise
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Pole, Pedal, Paddle 2K11
 |
| On the way to the mountain. One hour until Race Time! |
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| Jason and Connor powering up on Gatorade goo-substance. |
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| And....Connor might be skeptical? |
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| Jason is off on the bike! I'm glad you can't tell he's wearing God-awful Oregon State cycling gear. |
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| He survived! Whew! |
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| Connor dominating the Kayak leg. |
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| Double fisting: water & Muscle Milk |
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| Yeah, man! We did it! |
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| Team Tacchini: The Tac Attack |
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| Awwwww...cousins! |
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| Me and baby Collin |
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| He is so-super-cute. |
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| He wasn't afraid of me at all...Jacoby, take some lessons! |
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| Haha! I wish this picture turned out better. This is Cycle Pub. Drink beer and have a bike ride for a ridiculous price! Still....it's pretty cool. |
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| The actual Mirror Pond. Beautiful. |
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Matthew ...I'm just sayin.
Well, we all survived Saturday and I'm glad about it. I'm not saying that the end is never coming. I just don't believe we'll ever know when it is coming. I'm okay with that. Having a deadline really freaks me out...
Change. Uncertainty. Two things I believe are necessary and constant. I know that I need change. I know that change can be good, is often very good, but at the same time I fight against it with all that I have. I am living in uncertainty and am coming to realize that maybe this is what life is about. In recent weeks, I've discovered that I'm a fairly inflexible person and have spent considerable time trying to change this. I have never before seen myself as someone really 'high-strung' or 'wound tight.' But, in the face of uncertain futures, I certainly become this way...for better or worse. When I am able to stop and think about my life and what the future holds, I'm gripped with panic because I have no answers. I can't reassure myself that I'll ever find the one person I'm great with. I can't reassure myself that I'll have a job in 6 months, a year? three? five? I can't reassure myself that I'll stay in good health and that my family members will also keep their health. Lacking answers to all of these questions, and many more, is terrifying. So, I try not to think about them.
In the meantime, however, I feel myself getting stuck in a rut. I'm doing the same thing over and over every day and nothing new is happening. I need something new. I need something to mix it up. I remember feeling this way several summers ago, when the opportunity presented itself for me to drive cross country with some friends. I need that again. Well, I don't need to drive cross country again...as much fun as that sounds...I can definitely hold off on that. But, I do need something different. My feet are itchy. So apparently, if I introduce the change, and change is not forced upon me, I'm good with that. I have no idea if this is "normal" or not. It's just the way I feel.
I'm thankful to have healthful, fit cousins who participated in the Pole, Pedal, Paddle last weekend in Bend. Of course, I had to tag along. I was slightly skeptical going into the weekend thinking it might be awkward or dull. But, it was anything but that. I had a great time hanging out with my cousins! It just doesn't happen enough! I have to admit though, I was slightly jealous that I was not in good enough shape to even consider doing any ONE of the legs of the race, even though each of my cousins did 3 legs a piece. That's insane. I did vow to start training for next year. Although I'm pretty sure the only thing I could ever do out of any of the legs would be to run...and Tacchini's hate running. Hate. It. My cousin, Jason, and my cousin, Connor, dominated the P.P.P, or P cubed. Jason...a little math humor? Anyway, this is how it went...
Friday night Jason and I arrived at the gorgeous house we stayed at in Sunriver. By gorgeous I mean, awesome western decor, an arcade room, a sauna in the bathroom, and a hot tub. Dan, Jason's friend we were staying with, was showing us around the house, and pointed out the "twin room" and the "bunk room." Jason looked at me, and said, "Which one do you want?" What a gentleman, right? Immediately, I was like, "Pssssshhhh twin room." So, J, got stuck with the bunk room. He's such a good sport. After we were settled, we went into Bend, to meet up with Connor, hammer out some race day logistics and go to dinner with Connor, his g/f Mallory, and Mallory's parents. Turns out Mallory's parents are the kindest people on the planet. I had a great time hanging out with them, and getting to know Mallory a little better, as well. Dinner went swimmingly, good stories were told, and excellent beer was had by all...except Connor maybe? I don't remember him drinking the night before race day! Jason was not on board with that plan. ;o) After dinner, it was time to hash out the plan for the following day. It is here that Connor informs me that this will probably take three hours. Three hours!? That was definitely not on my agenda. But, ok. This is why I was in Bend afterall. So, the minute we got back to Dan's, you can bet that I was packing up snacks, and activities for the following day. It sounded like it was going to be the most boring day ever.
Boring? It was not. Saturday morning brought a very early wake up call...6:45. I got up and promptly made breakfast, just like a good girl cousin should. (Gag, gender roles, shudder) But, I knew it was important that J had a full belly and a decent amount of carbs. Once that was done, we packed up and headed out to pick up Connor before heading up the mountain. The first leg of P cubed, is a 100m (?) sprint up the mountain and then snowboarding down. That was Jason's leg. Then, Jason tagged Connor and Connor took off on a 5 mile cross country ski loop. Then, Connor tags Jason and he takes off on a 20 mile bike ride, or something crazy like that. Then, Jason tags Connor who goes on a 5 mile run, then hops in his kayak to paddle 2 miles up and down river. Lastly, Connor tags Jason who sprints a half mile to the finish. Yeah, I know, right? Are you kidding me? So, the only important job I really had was to drive Connor from the top of the mountain down to where the cyclists meet to tag the runners. Arguably, the other important job was to document the entire event, which I did, to the best of my ability. Jason's first leg took a total of 4 minutes, including the crash and ice rash he, consequently, sustained on his back. Connor had anticipated his 5 mile leg to take approximately an hour. Needless, to say Jason and I were in no hurry to wait around in the bike exchange area. We were lolly-gagging around when suddenly Jason was like, "Oh man! He's right there!" He dropped his shoes and sweatshirt and ran. I can't really convey how hectic it was. But, it was. Let me put it this way, I barely had enough time to order, and drink, my chai tea latte before I was heading back down the mountain with Connor in tow. Now, it was time for my big important job of getting Con down the hill. We got back to the car, got his skis loaded up and wouldn't ya know it, those darned VW's have a sneaky way of getting in reverse? I absolutely could not figure out how to get that Jetta into reverse! I was panicking, because I was about 2 inches away from slamming into a beautiful Yukon, and, of course, the driver was sitting in the car. This actually came to behoove us, as Connor said, "Here, watch this." He jumped out of the car, tapped on the mans window, and said, "Hey, yeah, there's something wrong with our transmission, could you pull over there (points) so we can just pull straight out?" The man happily obliged us. Quick thinkin, Con! So, now, off we went. I tried to hurry him down the hill but then we found ourselves stuck in traffic. Connor started panicking because we knew Jason was hauling ass down the hill (because we passed him not too long ago) and Connor made the executive decision to get out where we were stuck and just run to the exchange place. So, actually, Connor ran about 6 miles that day. Jason arrived at the exchange and saw Mallory who flagged him down to inform him that Connor was not there yet. Ha ha. This was confusing for many. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful for us spectators. Connor didn't tip his kayak or anything so we just went from place to place to watch and take pictures, obviously. The boys finished in 2 hours and 43 minutes. Not bad for not really having any background in kayaking or cross country skiing, I thought! Maybe next year I'll be able to participate with them, and have someone taking pictures of ME, instead! ;o)
All in all, a great weekend was had by all...I think? Enjoy the photos courtesy of yours truly!
Today's list: Pet Peeves
1. Men not knowing how to drive a stick shift
2. Revving of engines
3. That beeping noise a school bus makes when it's backing up
4. Wet counter tops
5. My phone not working at my own house for a solid week
6. Inefficiency
7. Insincerity
8. Dishonesty
9. Sneakers on a wet floor (Squeak, squeak)
10. The gym being closed 2 days this coming weekend! ARGH.
Change. Uncertainty. Two things I believe are necessary and constant. I know that I need change. I know that change can be good, is often very good, but at the same time I fight against it with all that I have. I am living in uncertainty and am coming to realize that maybe this is what life is about. In recent weeks, I've discovered that I'm a fairly inflexible person and have spent considerable time trying to change this. I have never before seen myself as someone really 'high-strung' or 'wound tight.' But, in the face of uncertain futures, I certainly become this way...for better or worse. When I am able to stop and think about my life and what the future holds, I'm gripped with panic because I have no answers. I can't reassure myself that I'll ever find the one person I'm great with. I can't reassure myself that I'll have a job in 6 months, a year? three? five? I can't reassure myself that I'll stay in good health and that my family members will also keep their health. Lacking answers to all of these questions, and many more, is terrifying. So, I try not to think about them.
In the meantime, however, I feel myself getting stuck in a rut. I'm doing the same thing over and over every day and nothing new is happening. I need something new. I need something to mix it up. I remember feeling this way several summers ago, when the opportunity presented itself for me to drive cross country with some friends. I need that again. Well, I don't need to drive cross country again...as much fun as that sounds...I can definitely hold off on that. But, I do need something different. My feet are itchy. So apparently, if I introduce the change, and change is not forced upon me, I'm good with that. I have no idea if this is "normal" or not. It's just the way I feel.
I'm thankful to have healthful, fit cousins who participated in the Pole, Pedal, Paddle last weekend in Bend. Of course, I had to tag along. I was slightly skeptical going into the weekend thinking it might be awkward or dull. But, it was anything but that. I had a great time hanging out with my cousins! It just doesn't happen enough! I have to admit though, I was slightly jealous that I was not in good enough shape to even consider doing any ONE of the legs of the race, even though each of my cousins did 3 legs a piece. That's insane. I did vow to start training for next year. Although I'm pretty sure the only thing I could ever do out of any of the legs would be to run...and Tacchini's hate running. Hate. It. My cousin, Jason, and my cousin, Connor, dominated the P.P.P, or P cubed. Jason...a little math humor? Anyway, this is how it went...
Friday night Jason and I arrived at the gorgeous house we stayed at in Sunriver. By gorgeous I mean, awesome western decor, an arcade room, a sauna in the bathroom, and a hot tub. Dan, Jason's friend we were staying with, was showing us around the house, and pointed out the "twin room" and the "bunk room." Jason looked at me, and said, "Which one do you want?" What a gentleman, right? Immediately, I was like, "Pssssshhhh twin room." So, J, got stuck with the bunk room. He's such a good sport. After we were settled, we went into Bend, to meet up with Connor, hammer out some race day logistics and go to dinner with Connor, his g/f Mallory, and Mallory's parents. Turns out Mallory's parents are the kindest people on the planet. I had a great time hanging out with them, and getting to know Mallory a little better, as well. Dinner went swimmingly, good stories were told, and excellent beer was had by all...except Connor maybe? I don't remember him drinking the night before race day! Jason was not on board with that plan. ;o) After dinner, it was time to hash out the plan for the following day. It is here that Connor informs me that this will probably take three hours. Three hours!? That was definitely not on my agenda. But, ok. This is why I was in Bend afterall. So, the minute we got back to Dan's, you can bet that I was packing up snacks, and activities for the following day. It sounded like it was going to be the most boring day ever.
Boring? It was not. Saturday morning brought a very early wake up call...6:45. I got up and promptly made breakfast, just like a good girl cousin should. (Gag, gender roles, shudder) But, I knew it was important that J had a full belly and a decent amount of carbs. Once that was done, we packed up and headed out to pick up Connor before heading up the mountain. The first leg of P cubed, is a 100m (?) sprint up the mountain and then snowboarding down. That was Jason's leg. Then, Jason tagged Connor and Connor took off on a 5 mile cross country ski loop. Then, Connor tags Jason and he takes off on a 20 mile bike ride, or something crazy like that. Then, Jason tags Connor who goes on a 5 mile run, then hops in his kayak to paddle 2 miles up and down river. Lastly, Connor tags Jason who sprints a half mile to the finish. Yeah, I know, right? Are you kidding me? So, the only important job I really had was to drive Connor from the top of the mountain down to where the cyclists meet to tag the runners. Arguably, the other important job was to document the entire event, which I did, to the best of my ability. Jason's first leg took a total of 4 minutes, including the crash and ice rash he, consequently, sustained on his back. Connor had anticipated his 5 mile leg to take approximately an hour. Needless, to say Jason and I were in no hurry to wait around in the bike exchange area. We were lolly-gagging around when suddenly Jason was like, "Oh man! He's right there!" He dropped his shoes and sweatshirt and ran. I can't really convey how hectic it was. But, it was. Let me put it this way, I barely had enough time to order, and drink, my chai tea latte before I was heading back down the mountain with Connor in tow. Now, it was time for my big important job of getting Con down the hill. We got back to the car, got his skis loaded up and wouldn't ya know it, those darned VW's have a sneaky way of getting in reverse? I absolutely could not figure out how to get that Jetta into reverse! I was panicking, because I was about 2 inches away from slamming into a beautiful Yukon, and, of course, the driver was sitting in the car. This actually came to behoove us, as Connor said, "Here, watch this." He jumped out of the car, tapped on the mans window, and said, "Hey, yeah, there's something wrong with our transmission, could you pull over there (points) so we can just pull straight out?" The man happily obliged us. Quick thinkin, Con! So, now, off we went. I tried to hurry him down the hill but then we found ourselves stuck in traffic. Connor started panicking because we knew Jason was hauling ass down the hill (because we passed him not too long ago) and Connor made the executive decision to get out where we were stuck and just run to the exchange place. So, actually, Connor ran about 6 miles that day. Jason arrived at the exchange and saw Mallory who flagged him down to inform him that Connor was not there yet. Ha ha. This was confusing for many. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful for us spectators. Connor didn't tip his kayak or anything so we just went from place to place to watch and take pictures, obviously. The boys finished in 2 hours and 43 minutes. Not bad for not really having any background in kayaking or cross country skiing, I thought! Maybe next year I'll be able to participate with them, and have someone taking pictures of ME, instead! ;o)
All in all, a great weekend was had by all...I think? Enjoy the photos courtesy of yours truly!
Today's list: Pet Peeves
1. Men not knowing how to drive a stick shift
2. Revving of engines
3. That beeping noise a school bus makes when it's backing up
4. Wet counter tops
5. My phone not working at my own house for a solid week
6. Inefficiency
7. Insincerity
8. Dishonesty
9. Sneakers on a wet floor (Squeak, squeak)
10. The gym being closed 2 days this coming weekend! ARGH.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Addendum to Out of the Mouths of Babes...
I already have more stories. Can you believe it? I bet you can.
First and foremost, my brother and sister in law recently found my nephew, Joey's, "hate list" in a notebook he had stashed. It reads...
1. Communists
2. Justin Bieber
3. Republicans
4. Decisions
He is definitely part of our blood line. ;o) I love, love, love him!
In a separate notice, I'd like to add another very common, yet unhelpful/uncomforting phrase to my previous list. I've rewritten them all again, in case you've forgotten. Although, you should probably commit these sayings to memory, if you haven't already. It is the only way you'll be able to use them to annoy people like me.
(The order of unhelpful sayings may not be the same as last nights. Yes, I'm just that lazy that I refuse to go back and look at what I wrote last night. If I do get them in the right order, I should for sure get a prize. So, what am I going to get? Huh? Huh?)
1. It is what it is.
2. You never know.
3. Time will tell.
4. What will be, will be.
5. It'll happen when you least expect it! (Although, admittedly, I do tell my students this frequently. It really is the only way they will stop hassling me...i.e. "Juuuuuuuddy (read with whiny voice) when are we going to get to play bingo again?" Or, "Juuuuuddy, when are we getting new pencils?" Or, basically any other inane question...and to which, I like to reply, "It will happen when you least expect it!" It's kind of like a nice way of saying, "That is never going to happen, at least for a very long time."
Oh, what's that sound? What is it? hm? Oh, that's just my bed calling my name. Sleep is so good.
Today's list: Painful/torturous exercises I endured today
1. Kettlebell lifts
2. Weight shifts
3. Lunges
4. Push ups
5. Plank taps
6. straight leg, bicycle and wrap around ab cycle
7. 15 sets of stairs
8. oblique crunches with the kettlebell
9. tricep dips
10. this could go on and on...the good news is, I feel mostly good. Only a bit weary...and I'm pretty sure that this workout is what keeps me up until the unGodly hour of 10 pm....
see ya next week!
J
First and foremost, my brother and sister in law recently found my nephew, Joey's, "hate list" in a notebook he had stashed. It reads...
1. Communists
2. Justin Bieber
3. Republicans
4. Decisions
He is definitely part of our blood line. ;o) I love, love, love him!
In a separate notice, I'd like to add another very common, yet unhelpful/uncomforting phrase to my previous list. I've rewritten them all again, in case you've forgotten. Although, you should probably commit these sayings to memory, if you haven't already. It is the only way you'll be able to use them to annoy people like me.
(The order of unhelpful sayings may not be the same as last nights. Yes, I'm just that lazy that I refuse to go back and look at what I wrote last night. If I do get them in the right order, I should for sure get a prize. So, what am I going to get? Huh? Huh?)
1. It is what it is.
2. You never know.
3. Time will tell.
4. What will be, will be.
5. It'll happen when you least expect it! (Although, admittedly, I do tell my students this frequently. It really is the only way they will stop hassling me...i.e. "Juuuuuuuddy (read with whiny voice) when are we going to get to play bingo again?" Or, "Juuuuuddy, when are we getting new pencils?" Or, basically any other inane question...and to which, I like to reply, "It will happen when you least expect it!" It's kind of like a nice way of saying, "That is never going to happen, at least for a very long time."
Oh, what's that sound? What is it? hm? Oh, that's just my bed calling my name. Sleep is so good.
Today's list: Painful/torturous exercises I endured today
1. Kettlebell lifts
2. Weight shifts
3. Lunges
4. Push ups
5. Plank taps
6. straight leg, bicycle and wrap around ab cycle
7. 15 sets of stairs
8. oblique crunches with the kettlebell
9. tricep dips
10. this could go on and on...the good news is, I feel mostly good. Only a bit weary...and I'm pretty sure that this workout is what keeps me up until the unGodly hour of 10 pm....
see ya next week!
J
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Out of the Mouths of Babes
I am alive. It's true, I have successfully survived yet another session with dear Kim. To refresh your memory, she is often referred to as Devil Incarnate, or D.I. My last session was last week and I basically could not move after she was done with me. I love the feeling, but hate the feeling. I've learned only one thing from these workout sessions, the day after is always much worse. Actually, I think that's generally a life lesson. The day after is always much worse. Take those words of wisdom and keep them close to you. You're welcome.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the D.I. has an interesting personality. I can't quite figure her out. I will tell you she definitely has an interesting way about her. I ran into her at the gym the other day and was asking her questions about my routine and body composition and what not. At this point, she informed me that she was a "competitive gymnast" in high school and it would have been impossible to find an inch of body fat on her. She continued on about how, even when she was studying to become a trainer, her classmates would never even test her body fat percentage because you wouldn't be able to find hardly any body fat. Wow. If anyone knows anything about me, it is when people talk like this about their bodies. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Today, she told me that I really need to be encouraging Christine to work out more. Uh, listen Kim, I can barely get my tush to the gym. I cannot be responsible for my friend, as well.
Seriously?
Last weekend, I got to go see Wicked with one of my besties, Erin. We had quite the rockin' date night. We went out to dinner and then headed to the musical. I was so excited to see Wicked and it far surpassed any expectations I had. I remember trying to read the book about 50,000 times and could never get past the first hundred pages. The musical was much more entertaining than I found the book. Although, of course, now, I'm questioning myself and thinking...well maybe I should give it another shot. Maybe I will. Regardless, it was a great evening of fun and I'm glad that I FINALLY got to see this fabulous musical.
Ah, well, I'm headed home again this weekend. It's going to be a whirlwind of a weekend but I can't even foresee how much fun it will be! I can never seem to get enough of my nephews. They are so hilariously entertaining. Last time I was home, Joey and Johnny thought they'd come by to hang out with me and grandma. By hang out, I mean, Johnny wanted to do "projects" with me and Joey wanted to play his electronic handheld in the chair while grandma and I watched our typical Friday night tv lineup. Johnny found some origami to do while we watched 20/20 which happened to be all about Elton John and the adoption of his baby boy. At one point during the interview with none other than Barbara Walters, Elton divulged how he and his partner are involved with Ukranian orphanages and that's how he started thinking of adopting a baby. He went on to say that he was unable to adopt a child from the Ukranian orphanage because of the international laws that prevented him from doing so. From out of nowhere, Joey pipes up, "Oh yeah, those international laws are a drag." Excuse me? Where did he come from? I thought he was playing his electronic game! Moments later, I sit observing Johnny who is working on his origami creation, and having a pretty cool dialogue with himself. It went something like this, "Oh man, I messed up. Wait, did I mess up? Hm. No. Oh yeah, I did it right. I'm awesome. (shakes his head) I'm so awesome I could never mess up." Well, no self-image issues here, people! Back to the interview with Barbara Walters, ol' Barbara says to Elton, "There are some people that say two men shouldn't raise a child together." Again, from the chair, Joey chimes in, "Ah, yes, and those people would be called Republicans." (Sorry for any Republicans in my fan base...it's a pretty liberal family I'm from!) I was astonished that he would even come up with that. I just busted up laughing. What 11 year old has any idea about political parties? Dare, I say, none? Very few, at most. After the interview was over, I was ready for bed, and it was time for the boys to head home. Grandma began hassling John about picking up his origami and putting it back where he got it from, when he shouts out, "Ya can't rush a thinkin' boy grandma!" Oh my....
I'd have to say the quote that takes the cake, however, was actually not a verbal quote at all. It is brought to you by Joey. He is so traumatized about the puberty unit his class is about to begin. There have been several letters sent home to alert parents about this unit, and Joey has done a remarkable job of making sure his parents know nothing about this puberty stuff. He is just too mortified to even bring it up. The most recent puberty packet that was sent home, promptly got hidden under grandma's chair in her bedroom. She found it at some point last week and when she pulled it out she saw a note attached to the papers that read, "For the love of God and all things Holy, do not open this packet." I adore him.
Today's List: The Least Helpful/Comforting Sayings of ALL time.
1. It is what it is.
2. What will be, will be.
3. You never know...
4. Time will tell.
'Til next time...
J
I'm coming to the conclusion that the D.I. has an interesting personality. I can't quite figure her out. I will tell you she definitely has an interesting way about her. I ran into her at the gym the other day and was asking her questions about my routine and body composition and what not. At this point, she informed me that she was a "competitive gymnast" in high school and it would have been impossible to find an inch of body fat on her. She continued on about how, even when she was studying to become a trainer, her classmates would never even test her body fat percentage because you wouldn't be able to find hardly any body fat. Wow. If anyone knows anything about me, it is when people talk like this about their bodies. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Today, she told me that I really need to be encouraging Christine to work out more. Uh, listen Kim, I can barely get my tush to the gym. I cannot be responsible for my friend, as well.
Seriously?
Last weekend, I got to go see Wicked with one of my besties, Erin. We had quite the rockin' date night. We went out to dinner and then headed to the musical. I was so excited to see Wicked and it far surpassed any expectations I had. I remember trying to read the book about 50,000 times and could never get past the first hundred pages. The musical was much more entertaining than I found the book. Although, of course, now, I'm questioning myself and thinking...well maybe I should give it another shot. Maybe I will. Regardless, it was a great evening of fun and I'm glad that I FINALLY got to see this fabulous musical.
Ah, well, I'm headed home again this weekend. It's going to be a whirlwind of a weekend but I can't even foresee how much fun it will be! I can never seem to get enough of my nephews. They are so hilariously entertaining. Last time I was home, Joey and Johnny thought they'd come by to hang out with me and grandma. By hang out, I mean, Johnny wanted to do "projects" with me and Joey wanted to play his electronic handheld in the chair while grandma and I watched our typical Friday night tv lineup. Johnny found some origami to do while we watched 20/20 which happened to be all about Elton John and the adoption of his baby boy. At one point during the interview with none other than Barbara Walters, Elton divulged how he and his partner are involved with Ukranian orphanages and that's how he started thinking of adopting a baby. He went on to say that he was unable to adopt a child from the Ukranian orphanage because of the international laws that prevented him from doing so. From out of nowhere, Joey pipes up, "Oh yeah, those international laws are a drag." Excuse me? Where did he come from? I thought he was playing his electronic game! Moments later, I sit observing Johnny who is working on his origami creation, and having a pretty cool dialogue with himself. It went something like this, "Oh man, I messed up. Wait, did I mess up? Hm. No. Oh yeah, I did it right. I'm awesome. (shakes his head) I'm so awesome I could never mess up." Well, no self-image issues here, people! Back to the interview with Barbara Walters, ol' Barbara says to Elton, "There are some people that say two men shouldn't raise a child together." Again, from the chair, Joey chimes in, "Ah, yes, and those people would be called Republicans." (Sorry for any Republicans in my fan base...it's a pretty liberal family I'm from!) I was astonished that he would even come up with that. I just busted up laughing. What 11 year old has any idea about political parties? Dare, I say, none? Very few, at most. After the interview was over, I was ready for bed, and it was time for the boys to head home. Grandma began hassling John about picking up his origami and putting it back where he got it from, when he shouts out, "Ya can't rush a thinkin' boy grandma!" Oh my....
I'd have to say the quote that takes the cake, however, was actually not a verbal quote at all. It is brought to you by Joey. He is so traumatized about the puberty unit his class is about to begin. There have been several letters sent home to alert parents about this unit, and Joey has done a remarkable job of making sure his parents know nothing about this puberty stuff. He is just too mortified to even bring it up. The most recent puberty packet that was sent home, promptly got hidden under grandma's chair in her bedroom. She found it at some point last week and when she pulled it out she saw a note attached to the papers that read, "For the love of God and all things Holy, do not open this packet." I adore him.
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| Erin and I at Wicked! |
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| Wickitini's MMMMMMMMM..... |
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| Erin tried to take a picture of us one-handed. Half of her Wickitini on the floor is what resulted. ;( |
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| Mini champagne glasses. Oh so cute. |
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| Flowers from the staff for Teacher Appreciation Week. Guess what? I cried. So sweet. They wrote a very thoughtful card and I'm glad I didn't even attempt to read that in front of them! I definitely felt valued and appreciated! |
Today's List: The Least Helpful/Comforting Sayings of ALL time.
1. It is what it is.
2. What will be, will be.
3. You never know...
4. Time will tell.
'Til next time...
J
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
My Love Cup Flow-eth Over...
Holy technology. I want a land line and a pencil and paper. I'm about to throw my phone and my computer over my balcony. Good thing I'm a rational, reasonable person (insert maniacal laughter here). Seriously, I made a phone call this evening and now I cannot get incoming calls nor make outgoing calls. I have researched Sprint's website and found the most unhelpful postings I have ever seen. For example, I thought I was onto something when I found this post regarding a similar issue, "I cannot receive incoming calls. The people on the other end can hear me but I cannot hear them. I can only DIAL out." Response: "Take your phone and throw it against the wall and then purchase a better one. Samsung = garbage." Seriously? This is what you have to offer me? Great. So, then, I thought I should check my email one more time and probably my facebook too. I was toying with the idea of making a post about my bum phone but then...wait for it...but then...my computer refused to load my facebook profile and home page. I was also denied access to check my email. This really could not get any better with technology tonight. What next? My microwave is going to blow out so I can't even eat! Just kidding. Don't be alarmed, I actually already ate. You know, it just makes me think, has technology really improved our lives? Has it? The whole premise of facebook is actually disturbing. Who needs to know where there "friends" are at every minute of the day? Do I really even care about the plethora of status messages I read everyday? I'm pretty sure I don't even know half of the people on my newsfeed. It's a sad state of affairs, people. I'm calling for a technology revolution. Let's scrap it all and go back to land lines and using a computer for word processing only! But, then again, I wouldn't have this here blog now would I?
Has anyone seen those Florida orange juice commercials? They are hysterical. Basically, it's a typical 'everyday' person sitting down to the breakfast table with his juice while being confronted by all of the terrible things that are bound to happen throughout the day. Mr. Everyday is not bothered by all of these obstacles but answers each situation with a sarcastic remark. That's how I've been feeling lately! Just imagine, I sit down with my Florida o.j. (even though I almost exclusively only drink Simply Orange - No pulp) and I'm confronted with one of my coworkers, a representative from Sprint and my trainer. This is how the conversation would go...
Coworker: Good morning! Today you're going to arrive at school, to a surly student who will correct every mistake you make, and disrupt the majority of your lessons with an argument clarifying how right he is and just how wrong you are.
Me: Wonderful. Can't wait!
Sprint Rep: Then, you're going to get off work and want to call your mom, but uh-oh, sorry, your phone's not working. She'll be able to hear you but you won't be able to hear her. Your phone will be out of service the rest of the night...possibly indefinitely.
Me: That sounds great! Super!
Trainer: After that, you'll meet me at the gym, whereupon I will yell at you and push you to work harder than you are ready to work. You will feel demoralized and like the past week's workouts were for nothing.
Me: Excellent...let's do this! Good thing I had my orange juice this morning...would anyone notice if I added a splash of vodka? No? Okay good. Even better!
My newest student is quite the little pill. I'm coming to the realization that he wasn't pushed too hard at his last placement, and my demands are getting a bit more than he is ready to handle. It all came to a head a couple weeks ago when he and I had a royally epic battle over vocabulary words. I had assigned him to look up each vocabulary word and write the first definition. Out of the six vocab. words he turned in, about half had the correct definition. The next day, I gave it back to him with the expectation that the incorrect definitions needed to be fixed. I watched him go over and pick up the dictionary and begin looking up each word. Great, I am feeling good about how well he just accepted feedback. This feel-good feeling lasted right up until I collected his assignment from my basket and noticed that instead of replacing the incorrect definitions he had, instead, taken the time to write down the page number of each definition, i.e. "Check page 574." Well, that really got the old blood boiling. The next three days resulted in many back and forths about how I had looked up the definitions, that is how I actually knew they were incorrect. Finally, by Friday he was able to turn in a very messy looking page with mostly correct definitions. This is just one of the highlights from my interactions with this little cherub. He loves the line, "But, I didn't hear you!" This has caught on like rapid fire in my class. Now, I have five kids, not one, claiming they did not hear the direction, as an excuse to not have to follow the direction. Two steps forward and five steps back I tell ya. Today, in fact, I attempted teaching him the difference between a centimeter, decimeter, and millimeter. I decided to start with the smallest measurement (that's a millimeter, people) and work my way up to the biggest measurement (decimeter). While I'm trying to talk, he continues to talk over me, "But, what is a decimeter? I just want to know what a decimeter is. I don't know what a decimeter is." Finally, I say, "Just listen. We are getting there, but you have to know this other information first." To which, he rolled his eyes. Awesome. So, I give him a reminder that that is disrespectful and he looks at me, and says, "What?" in a surly tone. Again, I repeat, "That is a reminder. It. is. disrespectful. to. roll. your. eyes. at. a. teacher." "Oh," he says. Thankfully, it didn't go much farther than that today. Tomorrow will be more of a challenge, we'll see how it goes. The rest of the kids are cute and continue to try making progress in their treatment.
Last week, my friend, Chrissy, and I decided to hire a personal trainer. This has proved interesting at best. Our trainer, whom we shall call, Devil Incarnate, is about 22 years old and fiesty. I have always found I packed a substantial amount of sass but this gal is on a whole other level. Yeah, I get it, it's her job to kick my booty, but it is not her job to think she is Jillian Michaels and that we're on the Biggest Loser. We're not. During our first session we had to perform a 'fit test' for her to sort of set some baseline data. Okay, I can understand this. She sets me up on the chest press and cranks the weights right up to 80 lbs. I flat out just started laughing. Seriously, D.I.? I look at her as if to say, you're joking right? And, in all seriousness, she looks back and yells, "Push it!" Okay, she means business. So, I said, well I'll give it the ol' college try...not even a hint of a smile, she was that un-amused. Yikes. I push as hard as I can and literally cannot even get the press to move. Next thing I know, she is yelling, "Well you have to try!" Oh! Oh, you want me to try? Good idea. Let's do this again. One more time, I push and I push and nothing. With a heavy sigh, and begrudging attitude, she reluctantly lessens the weight. I'm thinking, sorry, I'm not ripped, that's why I hired you, girl! Sheesh. The stuff she set us up with last week actually is pretty fun to do, so it's been easy to stick with.
For one of our requirements, Chrissy and I were ordered to take a group aerobics class together. Completely pleased with ourselves we gloated, "We already do. We go to water aerobics." Of course, Devil Incarnate could not be happy with that. She just looked at us blankly and said, "Okaaaaayyyyyy (implying this is not an actual workout) but I mean I want you to take one on the hardwood, in the cardio room." I volunteered right away to take Zumba because Lord knows, I don't want her putting me into any of that "cardio pump" or whatever those classes are. I don't even know what they mean. Needless to say, Chrissy and I didn't make it to Zumba this week. But, we did make it to water aerobics!
How about we are 25 years younger than the youngest person in our water aerobics class? I love it. Those ladies crack me up and regardless of what D.I. thinks the under-water weight portion of that class is tough! I love me some water aerobics!
Today's List: Events to look forward to in the next 5 days...
1. Session 2 with Devil Incarnate
2. Dinner with Sarah
3. Wicked!
4. Massage
5. Spring football game
6. Sun? Please?
Love,
Me
Has anyone seen those Florida orange juice commercials? They are hysterical. Basically, it's a typical 'everyday' person sitting down to the breakfast table with his juice while being confronted by all of the terrible things that are bound to happen throughout the day. Mr. Everyday is not bothered by all of these obstacles but answers each situation with a sarcastic remark. That's how I've been feeling lately! Just imagine, I sit down with my Florida o.j. (even though I almost exclusively only drink Simply Orange - No pulp) and I'm confronted with one of my coworkers, a representative from Sprint and my trainer. This is how the conversation would go...
Coworker: Good morning! Today you're going to arrive at school, to a surly student who will correct every mistake you make, and disrupt the majority of your lessons with an argument clarifying how right he is and just how wrong you are.
Me: Wonderful. Can't wait!
Sprint Rep: Then, you're going to get off work and want to call your mom, but uh-oh, sorry, your phone's not working. She'll be able to hear you but you won't be able to hear her. Your phone will be out of service the rest of the night...possibly indefinitely.
Me: That sounds great! Super!
Trainer: After that, you'll meet me at the gym, whereupon I will yell at you and push you to work harder than you are ready to work. You will feel demoralized and like the past week's workouts were for nothing.
Me: Excellent...let's do this! Good thing I had my orange juice this morning...would anyone notice if I added a splash of vodka? No? Okay good. Even better!
My newest student is quite the little pill. I'm coming to the realization that he wasn't pushed too hard at his last placement, and my demands are getting a bit more than he is ready to handle. It all came to a head a couple weeks ago when he and I had a royally epic battle over vocabulary words. I had assigned him to look up each vocabulary word and write the first definition. Out of the six vocab. words he turned in, about half had the correct definition. The next day, I gave it back to him with the expectation that the incorrect definitions needed to be fixed. I watched him go over and pick up the dictionary and begin looking up each word. Great, I am feeling good about how well he just accepted feedback. This feel-good feeling lasted right up until I collected his assignment from my basket and noticed that instead of replacing the incorrect definitions he had, instead, taken the time to write down the page number of each definition, i.e. "Check page 574." Well, that really got the old blood boiling. The next three days resulted in many back and forths about how I had looked up the definitions, that is how I actually knew they were incorrect. Finally, by Friday he was able to turn in a very messy looking page with mostly correct definitions. This is just one of the highlights from my interactions with this little cherub. He loves the line, "But, I didn't hear you!" This has caught on like rapid fire in my class. Now, I have five kids, not one, claiming they did not hear the direction, as an excuse to not have to follow the direction. Two steps forward and five steps back I tell ya. Today, in fact, I attempted teaching him the difference between a centimeter, decimeter, and millimeter. I decided to start with the smallest measurement (that's a millimeter, people) and work my way up to the biggest measurement (decimeter). While I'm trying to talk, he continues to talk over me, "But, what is a decimeter? I just want to know what a decimeter is. I don't know what a decimeter is." Finally, I say, "Just listen. We are getting there, but you have to know this other information first." To which, he rolled his eyes. Awesome. So, I give him a reminder that that is disrespectful and he looks at me, and says, "What?" in a surly tone. Again, I repeat, "That is a reminder. It. is. disrespectful. to. roll. your. eyes. at. a. teacher." "Oh," he says. Thankfully, it didn't go much farther than that today. Tomorrow will be more of a challenge, we'll see how it goes. The rest of the kids are cute and continue to try making progress in their treatment.
Last week, my friend, Chrissy, and I decided to hire a personal trainer. This has proved interesting at best. Our trainer, whom we shall call, Devil Incarnate, is about 22 years old and fiesty. I have always found I packed a substantial amount of sass but this gal is on a whole other level. Yeah, I get it, it's her job to kick my booty, but it is not her job to think she is Jillian Michaels and that we're on the Biggest Loser. We're not. During our first session we had to perform a 'fit test' for her to sort of set some baseline data. Okay, I can understand this. She sets me up on the chest press and cranks the weights right up to 80 lbs. I flat out just started laughing. Seriously, D.I.? I look at her as if to say, you're joking right? And, in all seriousness, she looks back and yells, "Push it!" Okay, she means business. So, I said, well I'll give it the ol' college try...not even a hint of a smile, she was that un-amused. Yikes. I push as hard as I can and literally cannot even get the press to move. Next thing I know, she is yelling, "Well you have to try!" Oh! Oh, you want me to try? Good idea. Let's do this again. One more time, I push and I push and nothing. With a heavy sigh, and begrudging attitude, she reluctantly lessens the weight. I'm thinking, sorry, I'm not ripped, that's why I hired you, girl! Sheesh. The stuff she set us up with last week actually is pretty fun to do, so it's been easy to stick with.
For one of our requirements, Chrissy and I were ordered to take a group aerobics class together. Completely pleased with ourselves we gloated, "We already do. We go to water aerobics." Of course, Devil Incarnate could not be happy with that. She just looked at us blankly and said, "Okaaaaayyyyyy (implying this is not an actual workout) but I mean I want you to take one on the hardwood, in the cardio room." I volunteered right away to take Zumba because Lord knows, I don't want her putting me into any of that "cardio pump" or whatever those classes are. I don't even know what they mean. Needless to say, Chrissy and I didn't make it to Zumba this week. But, we did make it to water aerobics!
How about we are 25 years younger than the youngest person in our water aerobics class? I love it. Those ladies crack me up and regardless of what D.I. thinks the under-water weight portion of that class is tough! I love me some water aerobics!
Today's List: Events to look forward to in the next 5 days...
1. Session 2 with Devil Incarnate
2. Dinner with Sarah
3. Wicked!
4. Massage
5. Spring football game
6. Sun? Please?
Love,
Me
Monday, April 25, 2011
Rejoice!
I was thankful and blessed to be able to free up a weekend to head south for the Easter holiday. As usual, it was great to see my family, and, as always, very entertaining to be with my nephews. They are absolutely the most amusing children I have ever been around. Joey turned 11 on Easter Sunday and he is more like an adult than a child. Johnny continues to think he is the coolest thing on the planet, and it's legit, because he is pretty cool. And, Jacoby remains completely un-amused by me. His disgust is hard for me to digest because I was always around when the other boys were his age. They did not really know life without me being there. However, I only see Jacoby a few times per year and it's pretty clear he does not appreciate my presence. It's pretty clear he is the boss around his house and my parents house. I guess I disrupt his reign.
This year, we did not do the traditional egg hunt deal because Johnny was sick and Jacoby does not know what's going on. I think Joey is mostly out of the egg hunting situation. It was fun to go to mass with my parents and my brother and Joey. My mom got up really early on Sunday and baked a "special" Easter casserole. Joey was really taken with this. He was going around informing everyone that today was a really special day because grandma made a special Easter casserole. He came into my bedroom to tell me, "Aunt Judy, breakfast today is A-MAZING!" I asked him what he had and he said, "Oh, I had pancakes and sausage but grandma made a special casserole. Everyone else said it was really good." At dinner, he commented this was the best birthday dinner ever! All in all, a fun, quick trip, but definitely worth it!
This year, we did not do the traditional egg hunt deal because Johnny was sick and Jacoby does not know what's going on. I think Joey is mostly out of the egg hunting situation. It was fun to go to mass with my parents and my brother and Joey. My mom got up really early on Sunday and baked a "special" Easter casserole. Joey was really taken with this. He was going around informing everyone that today was a really special day because grandma made a special Easter casserole. He came into my bedroom to tell me, "Aunt Judy, breakfast today is A-MAZING!" I asked him what he had and he said, "Oh, I had pancakes and sausage but grandma made a special casserole. Everyone else said it was really good." At dinner, he commented this was the best birthday dinner ever! All in all, a fun, quick trip, but definitely worth it!
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| Watching Joe Joe try out his new Kick-bike. |
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| Johnny spilled the beans the morning of Joey's birthday, and told him he was getting a kick-bike. Joey's anxiety spiked! On the way to church, he said to his dad, "Daddy, I'm not really a bike guy. I'm more of a scooter type guy." At first we had no idea what would illicit such a comment but after Joey spilled the beans about Johnny spilling the beans, it all made sense. He said he thought a kick bike was a bike with a kick stand. Turns out, he loves his new kick bike! |
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| Jacoby loves the kick bike too! Good thing Joey shares well. |
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| He loves his da-da! |
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| Watching Joe Joe |
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| The typical look of disgust when he sees me. Notice he's not looking at the camera...because he's ignoring me. |
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| My brother couldn't resist. |
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| Jacoby with his 'bop-bop' (grandpa) and so, of course, he's so happy! |
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| Finally, he is warming up to me. My little monkey man! This was a short and sweet one! Enjoy! I'll be back later this week! Loves! Today's List: Things accomplished today: 1. Cleaned the fridge 2. Unpacked 3. Slept 4. Wrote 5. Blogged So productive! Me. |
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Holy frustration.
Where does it go? Where does all of your work go, when a button is mistakenly pushed and it disappears in to cyberspace? I'm just about in tears right now. I was about 10 paragraphs in to tonight's blog when, with the stroke of a key, everything was gone. It is not going on 10 o'clock and I'm afraid I just can't redo it all right now. Further, I am boggled by the fact that my computer says it is perpetually saving the drafts of my blog when the clock it is using is five minutes faster than the clock on my computer. That, I just don't understand. Here's the trouble, last night, I ended up staying up until midnight (gasp, I NEVER stay up that late on school nights) to help my roomie's friend out with a paper. I forgot how much I love proofreading and fixing other people's work. I got wayyyyyy too invested in the topic of animal cruelty and veganism vs. the meat eating lifestyle. But, for some reason, I was compelled to do this. But, since I can't update right now, since my peepers are about to glue themselves shut (magical, I know), I will give you some pictures...and some brief snippets of what's goin on around this place.
Tonight's List:
What I wrote about in my previous blog that got deleted:
A Florida orange juice commercial
One absurd student
A new gym membership and my trainer, Satan
A plethora of contradictory feelings
I need to write about these things! I will attempt it again tomorrow night. Hope this entry is sufficient for now....
peace.
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| About 2 days into living with me, Randy is greeted by my, what shall we say, creative problem solving. My students are working on a science unit called Land and Water. Inside the box is a mixture of soil components, and the kids get to model stream beds. However, there isn't enough time for the stream beds to dry between investigations so I was left with no choice but to blow dry the dirt so it would be ready the next day. Randy, befuddled at this sight, calls his mother to see what she's up to, because clearly I'm nuts. His mom inquires, "What's Jude doing?" Response, "Blowin' drying dirt." His mom, "What? Go help her!" In comes Randy, "Do you have another hair dryer?" Awww, thanks friend, no I don't, but I do have a camera and this ridiculousness needs to be documented. Thank you. |
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| The almost finished product! I've been working on this frame for several weeks. And by working on it, I mean, it's been sitting in my room and I've been thinking about colors, and design and when I'll actually be able to get to the pottery place to finish it. The best opportunity presented itself when two of my girlfriends wanted to meet up one dreary, rainy Saturday. It was a great afternoon with the girls and, as it turns out, productive! I pick up the finished piece tomorrow! I'm excited. This could be the inspiration for my bedroom redecoration this summer. |
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| Hello, lover. I did not know such a thing existed until a bit of mania kicked in Monday night, when I had to make a run to Borders. Every few years, I like to complete a book called "All About Me" I can't remember the last time I worked on one, but it seemed like time to do another one. Of course, Borders did not have what I was looking for, and I say 'of course' because I had a gift card there. So next on to the next best place, Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble had EVERYTHING! They had everything; including Listography which is literally a book devoted entirely to list making. Nothing gives me such joy. If you are ever in the market for a gift for yours truly, there are two other editions of Listography - a Romance version, and a Future version. I will, I promise you, I will own all three and complete them. Ahhhhhhhh....what comfort lies in a list! |
What I wrote about in my previous blog that got deleted:
A Florida orange juice commercial
One absurd student
A new gym membership and my trainer, Satan
A plethora of contradictory feelings
I need to write about these things! I will attempt it again tomorrow night. Hope this entry is sufficient for now....
peace.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Believe it.
Hello? Is this thing on? Does this thing even still exist? I know, I've been keeping a list of things to write about and I've noticed it's started gathering dust. Actually, there are some things I had planned to write about that are so passe (the e is supposed to have a little accent mark over it, but I don't know how to do that on my computer) that I had to cancel them off my list. So, here's what's happening in my world, as we speak...and what has happened in the past oh, say, three weeks…
You may have heard a few weeks ago that Oregon men's basketball won the CBI. Oh, what's the CBI, you ask? I have no clue, really. From what I gathered, it seemed like a tournament developed for teams not good enough for the NCAA tournament, nor the NIT? I haven't actually heard too many good things about the CBI in general, but that is neither here nor there. The point is, we won it! I've discovered winning is pretty cool under any circumstance. Luckily, my good friend Sarah is totally in with the bball crowd and she was on top of getting tickets and drug me along to the final 2 CBI games. I guess that'd be the semifinals, and the finals. The night of the finals we were pretty pumped to see how all would play out against the Creighton Bluejays. We met at my house and walked to Autzen to catch the shuttle to the new arena. Turns out, this night had many a strange incident in store for us.
We arrived to the game prior to tip off and we quickly found our seats. Not long after finding these seats, we were soon alerted to the fact that they were not actually our seats. The people who legitimately had claim to the seats were quick to point this out. By that point, however, the game had just begun and we could not find it within ourselves to climb over the row of people we would need to, to get to our seats. So, in looking around at the nearly 3,000 empty seats we picked another pair and sat down to settle in for the game. Not long after...you already know...someone came to inform us that we were in their seats. Okay, we decided, we should just suck it up and get to our seats that we actually bought and paid for. As we were nearing our seats, we lost heart, and just thought, well, we can probably sit in these seats. There was a set of 3 on the aisle and the man sitting with his children behind these seats encouraged us to sit there by saying, "These aren't our seats either, and we've been here the whole game, so it's probably fine." That was good enough reason for us. We hunkered down and settled in for the first half of the game. Nearing the end of the first half, a man-child looking thing (there’s no way I can possibly do his description justice, I will not even try) approached the aisle closest to where I was sitting. I did not want to make eye contact with this person fearing that if I did, he would, yet again, inform us that we were in his seats. Sadly, I made the mistake of glancing up and true to prediction he informed us that these were his seats. Quickly, he noticed the empty seat next to Sarah and assured us, that we could stay, he would just sit in the middle. This statement was accompanied with a vague gesture towards the open seat next to Sarah. Happy to oblige the man-child, we stood up to let him pass through to the available chair. Only now, awkwardly, none of us were moving. Sarah and I are stealing sideways glances at each other trying to figure out what's going on, when, you know who, informs Sarah she might want to pick up her Bingo cards which were under her seat. In a confused manner, she did as such, and again, we all stood paused, awkwardly, waiting for someone to make a move. Finally, Sarah, not knowing what else to do, thought, OH! I see, we're just going to move down one. As she stepped toward the seat next to her, the man-child took a step right in between Sarah and I. He. Literally. Wanted. To. Sit. In. The. Middle....of US! I absolutely couldn't believe what had just occurred. Immediately, upon sitting, let it be noted that I actually tried to flee the scene, but was given a withering look from Sarah so I begrudgingly returned to my seat. The man-child instantly introduced himself, “Hi! My name is Jimmy Love. (Aaaaannnd…I’m ready to call B.S. that that is his real name. No way. Unreal.) I work at a print shop on West 11th, and I volunteer my time at an animal shelter. Here, look, I made this hat today (he rips off his hat to show us the front) See? It says ‘peace ninja.’” (That would have been helpful if I did not know how to read, I don’t know how he would have gotten the impression that Sarah, nor I, knew how to read, but anyway there we were.) He goes on, “You know, because I’m a ninja…for peace.” Great. Next up, he tells us how he has some camo hats that he printed 541 on the front. He predicted, “They are gonna be huge. They’re really going to take off.” I assured him, I’d keep my eye out.
Later, after the game, Sarah and I headed off to get on the shuttle. The shuttles to and from Matt Arena are typical yellow school buses. The man in front of us, apparently, had a really big problem with this. His major complaint was that it is unsafe for people to be standing in the middle when they have no handles to hang onto. From the minute we got seated behind him, he was off and running on this topic. Clearly, he was agitated. His diatribe did not cease when the bus began filling up, either. In fact, it got worse. Much, much worse. He went on to say, these buses were just a lawsuit waiting to happen. Just wait, watch what happens when one of these buses crashes. Finally, the woman who was standing in the aisle next to him, says, “Would you just quit?” He adamantly says he will not and that he can say whatever he wants. She gives him a surly look, and says, “Enough!” in that disgusted, mothering tone. Of course, he is relentless, and now he is really getting geared up. He goes on to wave his hand in front of his face, and starts commenting on the bad smell that is now enveloping him (yes, he’s alluding to the fact that this woman had some sort of heinous body odor). So what does this woman do? She hauls off and slaps across the head! Again, could not believe what just occurred. The man states, “Well that was rude!” And she argues, “It was rude for you to say that I smell!” Unfortunately, the bus hadn’t even pulled out of the Matt Arena parking area. It was going to be a LONG ride home. And, it was. The man made sure to snap a few identifying photographs of this woman with his iphone, unbeknownst to her. Awkward. I seriously think he may have tried to pursue assault charges. I don’t know if it was Sarah, or me, that had the crazy energy that was drawing these incidents towards us. It was wholly bizarre!
Then, wouldn’t you know it, at Lewis Black last week, more crazies. Of course. Turns out two men had seats right next to us. Typically, I’d be stoked, but one of these men started the conversation that night with, “Evenin!” That’s a dead giveaway that dude has no swag. One of the men, was sort of a bigger guy and he apparently needed a lot of room. I felt I was a superbly good sport for letting his leg basically rest against mine all night. Awk-ward. During the first act, he falls asleep AND he falls asleep again during Lewis Black! I’m thinking, does this man have a mild form of narcolepsy? Surely, if I’m awake and kickin’ I would expect everyone else in the world would be the same. So, the show comes to a close and it’s clear that Black isn’t coming out to any sort of addendum to his show, so the theatre starts clearing. Excuse me, the theatre starts clearing out everywhere except in our row. Literally, the entire upper balcony was cleared out, save for the two men to the left of us and the three really-old-people-who-didn’t-crack-a-smile-the-entire- show to the right of us. Sarah and I were completely trapped. I’m looking at her, as if to say, what do we do? Climb over the seats? This is bizarre. I’m guessing the old people were waiting for us to move so that they could get out, but these guys were just not moving next to us. Creepy, a bit? Yeah, I think so. Finally, Sarah whispers, “movement, I see movement.” Whew. So, we get up and these men are clearly loitering trying to get our attention, which we aren’t giving to them, so randomly, the man that was sitting next to me hollers (literally) “Karaoke at The Old Pad!” I fought every urge to say, “Um, sir, you fell asleep twice in that hilarious performance. I think you should probably hit the hay.” These men, continued to try to walk near us, and we continued to try to avoid them. It was a narrow escape, but we managed.
This blog is getting ridiculously long. I am going to have to start wrapping things up, or else no one will ever read this again. I’ll talk about one more topic, and I’ll finish the rest tomorrow. Believe me, they can wait.
I’ve recently acquired a new roommate. I think most people knew this was coming, but Randy Denson (aw, Ame’s li’l bro) has moved in with me. I’m not even kidding when I say he has probably the best energy I’ve ever been around. I don’t think I’ve stopped laughing since he moved in. He is hysterical. Between him and his friends, I am constantly entertained. The first day I came home, he had dried my laundry and ran the dishwasher AND emptied it. WHOA! When I walked in, he right away, said, I put your laundry on your bed, oh, and can you show me where these dishes go? I wasn’t so sure. I was blown away. Yeah, I can show you! What a novel idea…to learn where things go in the kitchen! I was thoroughly impressed. Then, we attempted to make our first meal together, which went really well, despite that we almost burned the apartment down. I forgot to turn the fan on above the stove and when we started cooking the steaks on the grill pan the entire apartment literally filled with smoke. The smoke alarm sounded and Randy got the ever so important job of standing below the smoke alarm waving a towel to keep it from sounding over and over. We could go stand on our front porch and look toward the sliding glass door in the kitchen and just see smoke billowing out of the kitchen. So far, Randy has at least tried everything I cook, which is very kind. I will probably never forget the moment Randy came home from the store and gave me the low down on what he bought. “Oh yeah, and I got some oatmeal for breakfast, but you’ll have to show me how to make it.” Tonight, I said I was thinking of making breakfast for dinner, and he said, “Do you know how to make eggs like that?” and pointed to the packaging on one of my grill pans. “Over easy?” I asked. Yeah! Yes, I know how. So, he excitedly says, “Count me in!” I just laugh and laugh. Oh and don’t forget about the time, his friend used my towel last weekend. I just thought this the strangest, yet, hilarious thing. Some of his friends crashed here Saturday night and when I woke up to go into the bathroom the next morning I noticed all these water droplets on the floor. I thought oh, someone must have taken a shower, so when I came out I looked at Randy and clearly he hadn’t showered. Once again, I went into the bathroom to investigate and found my towel was sopping wet. That’s strange, so I said, Randy, did you use my towel? He was like, you know I did not use your towel. And, I just started busting up. Randy was laughing at his friend…the culprit. Super funny. Welp, that towel went right into the wash.
Today’s List: Topics to write about tomorrow:
1. Students
2. General frustrations
3. Water aerobics
4. Misc.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Hope Never Disappoints.
Yeah, I know, I haven't written in forever. I really thought I ended up posting last week, but apparently I did not. There are some big changes happening for me, namely, I'm getting a new roommate, and I'm changing gyms. Whew, big commitments, I know. My anxiety is up a little more than usual these days. But, I'm sure everything will be fine. Isn't it always?
I'm excited to get back to work tomorrow. Ha, mark this day on the calendar, I don't say that I'm excited to work too often. But, I'm ready. I miss my kiddos, and the staff, and I'm just generally looking forward to be on the move again. I've found I'm perhaps too good at relaxing and could spend most of my days cuddled in bed, watching tv, movies, reading or writing. Yesterday, my mom and I had a hilarious conversation. (She was the first person I'd actually talked to all day when she called after 7 pm.) Here's how it went...
Mom: What did you do today? Did you stay in bed all day?
Me: Wellllllll, not ALL day. I had to get up to go get my massage.
Mom: Oh, woooooow.
Me: Hysterical laughter.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know once I get going tomorrow I won't stop until who knows when. So, it was nice to get to just veg out.
Spring break went fast. It always does. I had a great time being with my parents and my sister and Andy. Andy and Jeanine took me clamming, which was.....an experience? I don't really understand tide tables and so, therefore, it made the clamming seem pretty silly. On top of that, it was really cold! I completely misestimated how cold it would be at 6 am on the ocean. It was cold. My hands, ears, nose and feet were frozen. My sister's hands were completely white. And, on top of that, we had no clue what we were looking for --- some little divot in the sand? Apparently that means there is a clam there. Andy helped me catch one clam, which actually was pretty exciting. But, clamming loses it's appeal quickly when you aren't catching clams, kind of like fishing, or mushroom hunting. Jeanine and I ended up just taking pictures to pass the time.
The rest of the time we were up North we spent the time at Washington Square and other various malls. I was under the impression that everyone wanted to go shopping...until the third day of going shopping when I was told that I am exhausting. I had no idea! Maybe that's why I'm tired all the time...I wear myself out. That's all I can think. I have to be with me 24 hours a day, so just imagine how exhausting that could be! :o)~
My mom and I also deep cleaned my apartment. That felt so good! Remarkably, three days later it still looks clean. I'm very pleased that nothing has been messed up yet. I even got my closets cleaned out. You wouldn't be able to tell that I did that if you looked in my closet because I still have entirely too many clothes, but I did give away two bags and a bag of shoes. I love to purge things. Sadly, this is a trait my sister and I inherited this from my mother. Tidiness and cleanliness are next to Godliness, I guess.
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| Beautiful supermoon - Literally, 5 minutes later it was gone. So glad I caught it before it disappeared. |
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| Boredom ensues and we pretend we are catching clams. |
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| My catch! Those suckers are much bigger than I expected. |
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| The day's catch. I caught the sand dollars. |
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| It's fun to pretend that I'm really good at clamming. |
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| My new tv stand that I'm completely in love with! I saw this piece at Target and had to have it. Dare I say my sister's love for furniture is wearing off on me....Also, I assembled this piece in a mere one hour! I rule. |
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
God or Oscar...who do I love more?
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| Movie theatre decor - Movie theatre candy! |
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| I did not see this movie. But, I heard the family was poor, it clearly had something to do with winter, and I had left over corn bread? |
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| The Social Network - Mark Zuckerberg, founder of facebook, is seen munching on sushi and drinking appletini's. Being as I don't eat sushi, we had shrimp cocktail. And, being a Sunday night, we had apple juice instead of appletini's. Just as classy don't you think? |
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| Black Swan - Peeps, grapefruit, and devil's food cakes. In the movie, Natalie Portman's character is seen eating two things, and one of them is grapfruit. Peeps obviously signify the swan. And the Devil's food snack cakes because well...see the movie, and draw your own conclusions! |
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| I did not see The King's Speech...yet. But, the characters have English accents, so I assumed tea was appropriate. |
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| 127 Hours - Trail mix and beef burritos. If you know the story, then you know the Aron Ralston was stuck between a rock and a hard place for several days having to subsist on one beef burrito he brought for the hike. |
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| True Grit - Cowboy beans, aka baked beans. |
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| My most favorite dish, and favorite movie. The fighter! Irish bacon and cabbage soup. YUM. |
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| I do not watch too many animated films. But, since they are aimed at children, though many adults enjoy them, I figured Mac n Cheese was more than applicable. |
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| Who says I'm not multi-cultural? I included a movie from the best pictures in foreign film. And, also I love Javier Bardem, who is the lead role in Biutiful. I did not see the movie...yet. But, I figured, at any rate it was a great excuse to get to eat guacamole! |
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| The table spread |
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| The partial-counter spread |
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| The Kids are All Right - Deviled eggs because of all the issues with trying to conceive and talk of eggs and what not. The only picture I didn't get was for Inception, which was Dreamsicle jell-o. Orange flavored jell-o with cool whip. I could never forget Inception! Hopefully, a good time was had by all! I certainly enjoyed opening up my home and sharing the Oscar's with friends. It made for a much more enjoyable Sunday night. Even though, some naysayers, believed I went "over the top" (yes, someone actually said that) I would not have done it any other way! Thanks friends! |
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