In my quest to lose that last 10 pounds I've held on to since before Ross was born, I am struggling to stay motivated. It takes such DISCIPLINE to not only eat "on program" but to also fit in rigorous--or even moderate--exercise. I did fairly well today on the eating, until after I put the kids to bed. Late evening is my absolute worst time for snacking. I brushed my teeth before coming back downstairs and wasn't even feeling hungry and I STILL ate. I have indulged in cheese and chocolate, along with three glasses of wine. Anybody out there have any great suggestions to avoid this bad habit? Because it has, in the past, and could again, turn into a habit.
Kris has been gone hunting all weekend and won't be back until Wednesday. The kids and I had a great weekend. I enjoyed an afternoon with my dear friend J, whom I hadn't seen since August. We tooled around all afternoon and then enjoyed pizza and playtime with our kids. I led children's liturgy of the word as mass this morning, and there must have been close to 50 kids! I was really pleased by how well it went--the children were engaged in the discussion, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves. Grant came with me to church, and although he pissed and moaned about it like he does every week, he managed himself very well during mass, especially considering it went 75 minutes today. He even had some really curious questions about communion and the body and blood of Christ. We had a successful "study session" this afternoon working through the Parent and child Reconciliation lesson for the week ( he's preparing to receive this sacrament on December 5), and Grant has now memorized his Act of Contrition. All the while, Ross didn't interrupt us because he was watching a movie. So all in all, it was a super weekend. Hey, I even got all the laundry washed, folded, and put away (well, except for the last load waiting to be folded upstairs in the basket).
Didn't do any grading, but I will this week. For now, my students will just have to wait a little longer for their exam grades. Hope your weekend was a good one.
November 8, 2009
November 1, 2009
Happy Halloween!
Carving pumpkins Wednesday night...
In our costumes for Lincoln's Family Fun Night...
Grant the Football Player
Football Player, Butterfly, and Ninja!
Our little Butterfly...
This was the best Halloween our family has ever celebrated. Everything seemed to line up perfectly. Friday Night, Grant's school hosted a Family Fun Night where families could come, eat pizza, play board games, and dance to a DJ. Grant and Kris played Battleship while Ross and Hope roamed between them and me (I was at the PTA table selling school clothing). Even though the weather was wet and rainy all week, Halloween itself was a cool, dry, not-too-windy day. We joined up with Aunt D, Uncle Mike, Aunt Andy, Uncle Grant, and cousins Kori, Paige, Piper, and Jacob to visit the Not Too Spooky Haunted House at the El Zagal Shrine. They had the haunted house, inflatable games from Games Galore, and kids' carnival games for the little ones. Very fun! Then we all met back at our house to eat dinner. Afterwards we all went trick or treating around our neighborhood. I WISH I had taken our camera along for that part (we forgot it in the van and didn't go back to get it b/c everyone else was taking pics, too) because I could have taken video of Hope toddling down the sidewalk! She LOVED trick or treating!! She waddled along in her butterfly costume--with an added scarf, leggings, mittens, and hat--with her treat bag hanging from one arm and a glow stick dangling from the other. It was quite a sight! Ross and Piper led the crew to each house, and everyone had a blast. Afterwards, we all came back here to eat lots of candy. The kids played until abou 9:00 while we grown ups visited and watched them in their sugar-induced glee. It was wonderful.
In our costumes for Lincoln's Family Fun Night...
Grant the Football Player
Football Player, Butterfly, and Ninja!
Our little Butterfly...
This was the best Halloween our family has ever celebrated. Everything seemed to line up perfectly. Friday Night, Grant's school hosted a Family Fun Night where families could come, eat pizza, play board games, and dance to a DJ. Grant and Kris played Battleship while Ross and Hope roamed between them and me (I was at the PTA table selling school clothing). Even though the weather was wet and rainy all week, Halloween itself was a cool, dry, not-too-windy day. We joined up with Aunt D, Uncle Mike, Aunt Andy, Uncle Grant, and cousins Kori, Paige, Piper, and Jacob to visit the Not Too Spooky Haunted House at the El Zagal Shrine. They had the haunted house, inflatable games from Games Galore, and kids' carnival games for the little ones. Very fun! Then we all met back at our house to eat dinner. Afterwards we all went trick or treating around our neighborhood. I WISH I had taken our camera along for that part (we forgot it in the van and didn't go back to get it b/c everyone else was taking pics, too) because I could have taken video of Hope toddling down the sidewalk! She LOVED trick or treating!! She waddled along in her butterfly costume--with an added scarf, leggings, mittens, and hat--with her treat bag hanging from one arm and a glow stick dangling from the other. It was quite a sight! Ross and Piper led the crew to each house, and everyone had a blast. Afterwards, we all came back here to eat lots of candy. The kids played until abou 9:00 while we grown ups visited and watched them in their sugar-induced glee. It was wonderful.
October 29, 2009
Matching Game
I SHOULD be writing an exam for my students, but it's late and I've lost focus. Instead, I'll piggy back off of one of Bonnie's recent posts. This one's for you, sis. See how well you do:
Match the soap couple to their theme song! Um, I guess that's not gonna work--I can only remember two theme songs right now. Revise: 80's soap trivia:
1. Which soap couple's theme song was, Tonight, I Celebrate My Love?
2. Which soap couple's theme song was Friends and Lovers? bonus point: which soap actress sang the female part in this duet?
3. Whose nickname was "Sweetness?"
4. Whose nickname was "Fancy Face?"
5. Put the actors in order of past to present as Roman Brady: Wayne Northrop, Josh Taylor, Drake Hogestyn
6. Which two female characters both sang on stage with Danny Romalotti AND fought for his affections?
7. Who is Bo Brady's real father?
8. What was Nikki Reed's profession when she met and fell in love with Victor Newman?
9. Which soap couple consumated their love at an "old south" plantation?
10. What song was playe both on Days of Our Lives and in the movie Footloose?
11. What was Kayla Brady's profession when she met Patch/Steve?
12. On what soap did Lisa Rinna appear? Who did she play?
ANSWERS BELOW
1. Bo and Hope
2. Shane and Kim; bonus: Gloria Loring, who also played Liz Curtis on DAYS
3. Kayla Brady (as called by Steve)
4. Hope Brady (as called by Bo--duh)
5. Wayne Northrop, Drake Hogestyn, Josh Taylor
6. Tracy Abbott and Lauren Fenmore
7. Victor Kiriakis
8. stripper
9. Bo and Hope
10. Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler
11. nurse
12. Billie on DAYS
Gosh, I hope I'm right on these. I think I am. As anyone who really knows me will tell you, I truly am a font of useless entertainment/pop culture knowledge. How well did you do?
Coming soon...pics of pumpkin carving and Halloween costumes
Match the soap couple to their theme song! Um, I guess that's not gonna work--I can only remember two theme songs right now. Revise: 80's soap trivia:
1. Which soap couple's theme song was, Tonight, I Celebrate My Love?
2. Which soap couple's theme song was Friends and Lovers? bonus point: which soap actress sang the female part in this duet?
3. Whose nickname was "Sweetness?"
4. Whose nickname was "Fancy Face?"
5. Put the actors in order of past to present as Roman Brady: Wayne Northrop, Josh Taylor, Drake Hogestyn
6. Which two female characters both sang on stage with Danny Romalotti AND fought for his affections?
7. Who is Bo Brady's real father?
8. What was Nikki Reed's profession when she met and fell in love with Victor Newman?
9. Which soap couple consumated their love at an "old south" plantation?
10. What song was playe both on Days of Our Lives and in the movie Footloose?
11. What was Kayla Brady's profession when she met Patch/Steve?
12. On what soap did Lisa Rinna appear? Who did she play?
ANSWERS BELOW
1. Bo and Hope
2. Shane and Kim; bonus: Gloria Loring, who also played Liz Curtis on DAYS
3. Kayla Brady (as called by Steve)
4. Hope Brady (as called by Bo--duh)
5. Wayne Northrop, Drake Hogestyn, Josh Taylor
6. Tracy Abbott and Lauren Fenmore
7. Victor Kiriakis
8. stripper
9. Bo and Hope
10. Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler
11. nurse
12. Billie on DAYS
Gosh, I hope I'm right on these. I think I am. As anyone who really knows me will tell you, I truly am a font of useless entertainment/pop culture knowledge. How well did you do?
Coming soon...pics of pumpkin carving and Halloween costumes
October 27, 2009
My Top 10 Favorite TV shows
I'm sick of grading right now, so I'm taking a few minutes to think about something other than literacy mini-lessons.
Here are my top 8 favorite TV shows:
8. One Day at a Time
7. Alice
6. The Carol Burnett Show
5. The Facts of Life
4. Little House on the Prairie
3. The Golden Girls
2. Designing Women
1. Friends
Why 8, you ask? Well, because I couldn't think of 10 that are worthy of this list. My criteria? Simply this: When I stumble across these shows in reruns, I stop to watch them, (almost) no matter what. Put another way, I would love to own DVDs of all these because these are series I could easily watch over and over again without getting sick of them. I love to laugh, and these shows make me laugh! They're also clever, well written, and well-acted. I know you might not agree, but at least you took a walk down memory lane, didn't you?
Here are my top 8 favorite TV shows:
8. One Day at a Time
7. Alice
6. The Carol Burnett Show
5. The Facts of Life
4. Little House on the Prairie
3. The Golden Girls
2. Designing Women
1. Friends
Why 8, you ask? Well, because I couldn't think of 10 that are worthy of this list. My criteria? Simply this: When I stumble across these shows in reruns, I stop to watch them, (almost) no matter what. Put another way, I would love to own DVDs of all these because these are series I could easily watch over and over again without getting sick of them. I love to laugh, and these shows make me laugh! They're also clever, well written, and well-acted. I know you might not agree, but at least you took a walk down memory lane, didn't you?
October 26, 2009
Random Musings...
Things I saw walking through campus this morning:
--a guy wearing orange sherbet-colored skinny jeans
--a girl with the top half of hear hair dyed black and the bottom half dyed green...she looked kinda like the Grinch
Thoughts that have crossed my mind during the last 24 hours:
--I wish I'd remembered to bring my tennis shoes to work. That three-block walk from my office to my class was uncomfortable in my dress shoes.
--My muscles are sore from working out last night. But YAY ME! I finally worked out.
--I wonder what to get (Joyce/Bonnie/mom/dad/Grant) for Christmas?
--How come they've only released Season 1 of One Day at a Time on DVD? I wish I could watch that in reruns on TV.
--My blog friends are so awesome. I'm lucky to have them in my life.
--a guy wearing orange sherbet-colored skinny jeans
--a girl with the top half of hear hair dyed black and the bottom half dyed green...she looked kinda like the Grinch
Thoughts that have crossed my mind during the last 24 hours:
--I wish I'd remembered to bring my tennis shoes to work. That three-block walk from my office to my class was uncomfortable in my dress shoes.
--My muscles are sore from working out last night. But YAY ME! I finally worked out.
--I wonder what to get (Joyce/Bonnie/mom/dad/Grant) for Christmas?
--How come they've only released Season 1 of One Day at a Time on DVD? I wish I could watch that in reruns on TV.
--My blog friends are so awesome. I'm lucky to have them in my life.
October 25, 2009
There's been nothing to blog about
these past three weeks. The boys have been sick, Kris and I have been sick, but so far (knock on wood), Hope's been the healthiest of us all. We haven't had it nearly as badly as Bonnie's crew, though. No H1N1 here--more generic fevers, cold, and stomach flu. I guess the only upside to that is the puking and diarrhea (how the heck do you spell that word, anyway?) helped me drop a few pounds.
I don't have any cute pictures to post, either. Although the boys dug out some old photo albums that Bonnie and I paged through tonight, and I did find a lot of bad pics! Can you say hideous hair? I'm surprised Kris stayed with me through those early years; I looked like such a goober.
It's mid semester and everyone on campus is officially swamped. I've been up many nights the past week grading papers and lesson planning for the very next morning. Tomorrow my students are teaching mini-lessons during class, so thankfully I don't need to prepare a full day's lesson. I do have a pile of lesson plans and reflections to read and evaluate, however. Better get going on those. Hope everyone has a great week!
I don't have any cute pictures to post, either. Although the boys dug out some old photo albums that Bonnie and I paged through tonight, and I did find a lot of bad pics! Can you say hideous hair? I'm surprised Kris stayed with me through those early years; I looked like such a goober.
It's mid semester and everyone on campus is officially swamped. I've been up many nights the past week grading papers and lesson planning for the very next morning. Tomorrow my students are teaching mini-lessons during class, so thankfully I don't need to prepare a full day's lesson. I do have a pile of lesson plans and reflections to read and evaluate, however. Better get going on those. Hope everyone has a great week!
October 3, 2009
Ouch!
On Thursday afternoon, Ross was running through his classroom with friends as they listened to a song called "Everybody Move" by Greg and Steve. If you don't know this song, it has different rhythms, tempos, and tunes with appropriate music as the singer says words like, "Walk" "Gallop" "Skate" "Tiptoe" and "Run." As he was running, he tripped over his friend's shoe and fell down, hitting his eyebrow on the bottom edge of a table leg. Yowza, did he have a gash above his right eye. It looked like he took a punch from a boxer. Thankfully, Ross was calm by the time I got to him, but it was clear he would need stitches.
Ross was so brave. He cried some, but who wouldn't, when the doctor injects novacaine into the skin all around a fresh cut? He emerged with 4 stitches and a swollen eye. But true to form, the next day, Ross's teacher said that "He didn't miss a beat!"
Having said that, you can easily see in the photos how this experienced impacted Ross's overall persona and countenance that evening. (Did I really just use those two words in one sentence--on a Saturday night, no less?)
Ross was so brave. He cried some, but who wouldn't, when the doctor injects novacaine into the skin all around a fresh cut? He emerged with 4 stitches and a swollen eye. But true to form, the next day, Ross's teacher said that "He didn't miss a beat!"
Having said that, you can easily see in the photos how this experienced impacted Ross's overall persona and countenance that evening. (Did I really just use those two words in one sentence--on a Saturday night, no less?)
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