obsession

I know I have already posted about swimming, but I am in love with it! Nevermind the fact that my back is wondering where all these new muscles came from, I heart swimming!

I found a cool website called Swimplan.com. Some New Zealanders developed it (I love how favorite is spelled "favourite" and learned is "learnt"). Once signing up (for free, 2 of my fave words in the English language), it will put together personalized swimming workouts based on your level. The workouts are kicking my butt so far and some of the drills leave me feeling awkward, but I know it's improving my form. I'm not racking in any Olympic medals or anything but I like having something to follow instead of just going and swimming a bunch of laps.

One day, when I'm rich and famous, or at least just rich, I'm going to buy a house and install an enclosed lap pool next to the guest house.

"And I never learned how to read!"

I am addicted to the library. I know that of all the things to be addicted to, this is probably one of the safest. This and drinking water, or eating spinach.

One of the reasons I've been going so much is that summer is winding down and I'm feeling the pressure to read as much leisure material as possible before school starts back up. Once school is on, everything, including fun reading (oh, and my social life) go out the window.

Another reason is that the Dallas public library system has an amazing selection of dvds. It's like Blockbuster, except free! I'm almost finished with season 1 of the Gilmore Girls. I am disappointed that the first season of Growing Pains is missing from the shelves, though. And speaking of great shows from my youth, when the heck are the Wonder Years dvds going to come out??? Check out my Facebook page for reviews of movies I've recently watched.

Confession: when I was little, I used to love summer because that meant I could sign up for the summer reading program at the library. If I read the required amount of books, that meant some fabulous prizes like a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza, a card stock book mark, and a sticker with a weird cartoon leopard saying, "Get spotted reading a good book!"

just keep swiming, just keep swiming

I love to swim.

I transferred my gym membership to the one closer to my new place and this one has a pool. I was very excited about this because swimming is probably my favorite form of exercise. I love the way the water feels as I glide through it, the way my hands slice through it as I do the freestyle and the way I feel kind of like a frog when I do the breast stroke. I love how the only things I hear when my head is under water are the bubbles that leave my mouth as I exhale and the gurgle my arms and legs make as I move through the water. I even like the way my skin still smells of chlorine long after I have taken a shower.

When I was younger, around 4 or 5 and living in NC, I took swimming lessons at the Y. I ended up getting pneumonia from swallowing too much water, some of it getting into my lungs. I took lessons again when I was a little older, I think 8 or 9 living in CO. I remember walking the few blocks back to my house, alone, feeling like such a grown up. One time it started to pour down rain and I started to run although it didn't really matter if I got wet. When I was in high school in VA, I would hear about other school's swim teams and long to be on one; yet, my town, let alone my school, did not have a pool. It wasn't until long after I graduated that a Y was built and a swim team formed.

I'm not the most accomplished swimmer. I will never win any awards or medals for speed or endurance. I could use some pointers for improving my strokes. I'd like to learn the butterfly. But I am at peace when I swim, my only thoughts focusing on breathing and form. I wish I could find that peace in life.

thank u

How about me not blaming you for everything
How about me enjoying the moment for once
How about how good it feels to finally forgive you
How about grieving it all one at a time

Thank you india
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence

The moment I let go of it was
The moment I got more than I could handle
The moment I jumped off of it was
The moment I touched down

How about no longer being masochistic
How about remembering your divinity
How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out
How about not equating death with stopping

Thank you india
Thank you providence
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness
Thank you clarity
Thank you thank you silence

movin' on up!

In case some of you think I have gone into exile again, I am still here. I have been busy moving. Moving from one apartment to another is quite the task; I can't imagine moving from a house!

I love my new place! It's in a younger, hipper part of Dallas (Addison) and there are young business professionals everywhere. I'm excited to go exploring and find fun places to shop and eat. The apartment itself suits me very well. My last place was okay but it wasn't anything special. The new one is so much nicer and I feel like such a grown-up! I'll see about posting some pics when I get all settled (and you know that will take me a while...) but you can click here to see the complex.

People have been so kind, offering to help in packing and unpacking. It's such a motivator to me to have someone here, even if they are just sitting there and talking to me as I do the work. I am alone a lot of the time (the nature of being an introverted single) so I appreciate the company.

rain rain on my face

Signs on the roadways here in North Texas:

"If water on the road

turn around,

don't drown!"

I think it has rained everyday since April. I feel like I'm living back in Florida. Maybe it's a sign...

working for a living

I found the results to the Birkman I took back in 2003. The Birkman is a personality and occupation assessment tool to help you determine how you work most effectively and what fields you should pursue.

Near the top of the list: teacher. Yet, it also says that I have a high need for respect in my job. Hmmm. I don't know any teachers that feel highly respected...

At the very top of the list? It says I should pursue a career where I am a "knowledge specialist." This means "utilizing personal expertise and knowledge for problem solving; lead by example." Jobs in this family include: public school counselors, career counselors, college professors, HR professionals, ministers, physicians and lawyers. I think it would be fun to be a college professor but I don't think my Spanish is good enough to pursue a Masters and eventually a PhD.

Interesting that career counselor is one of the professions, especially since I should probably see one myself!

penny stretching

Making a budget is one thing. Sticking to it is something else entirely! Now that I have a car payment to worry about, not to mention the fact that my car insurance went up and the rent on my new place is higher than what I pay now, I am having to be very careful with the ol' paycheck. I've decided to think of it as a game, something that I have to beat. My goal is to have some left over at the end of the month; I will put half toward debt and the other half in savings. Exciting, I know.

I have an idea for making a little extra cash. I'm going to hang up some flyers at church for tutoring. Even if I just have one student per week, that will come out to almost $150/month. It would be cool to be able to tutor full time instead of teaching. The only problem would be lots of evening hours. Plus I would definitely miss the interactions I have with my students.

Moms, any ideas for making those pennies go further???

catching some zzzz's

While watching an ad for a prescription sleep aid, the narrator lists possible side effects. One includes drowsiness. Um, isn't that kind of the point?

virginia

This is my happy place.

i'm back

Wow, Blogger is so much easier to update and change around! Makes me feel super techno-savvy. But let's face it, a techno-geek I am not. Although I do seem to waste a lot of time on the computer...

p.c.

On Facebook, if you type in "Christian" under "Religious Views," a list of choices appears. The top choice? "Christian--Amish." Um, how many Amish people do you know have internet access? Or computers? Or electricity for that matter???

blah

I know I haven't blogged in a while and the truth is that I just haven't felt like it. There's a lot going on in my head right now that I just can't write about here. Don't worry, nothing tragic or anything. I'm just a very internal person and sometimes it just all gets clogged in my brain. It's kind of like constipation, I guess...no matter how badly I want it to come out, it won't.

Sorry for the graphic description...

vote for pedro

Hey guys! So, I was playing around with my camera today and took a couple of shots. Which one do you like better for my profile pic? Numero 1 or 2? Or icks-nay on both of them? Please vote; your voice matters!:)

students who make me smile

There are definitely days when I wonder why in the world I ever decided to teach. Thankfully those days are becoming more and more rare.

Then there are the days when my heart sings as I realize that I am truly where I am meant to be. Today was one of those days:) The school day itself was okay; it was an A day and those are always a little nutty. After school I was in my classroom grading some quizzes when a former student came in. She was looking for her teacher who uses my room A3 during my planning period to teach her class. This student ended up staying in my room for a few minutes to catch up; I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to her this year. She is an absolute sweetheart, a joy to work with. She is a junior and I asked what she was thinking about after high school. I told her if she needed help when it came time to fill out applications to let me know and I'd be more than happy to assist. She then said that she's applying for a summer program and that she needs a reference and has been wanting to ask me if I would fill one out for her! This is a student from last year and she wants me to be a reference for her! She also said she thinks I'm a good teacher:) It's always nice when someone says that you are good at what you do...

a few of my fave things...

As you know, I like to blog about my favorite things from time to time. It's been a while so it's time for another installment! Some of my favorite things lately include:

*Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe on the Discovery Channel--have you guys seen this show?! It is hilarious! They send this guy Mike to do the dirtiest, nastiest jobs out there (they usually involve poo of some sort); he has a sarcastic wit that can't be beat. I highly recommend watching it. New episodes air Tuesday nights at 9pm EST.

*Orbit Mint Mojito gum--oh my gosh! This is my new favorite flavor of gum! It's tangy and sweet, the perfect mixture of mint and a little bit of citrus. You have got to try it!

*coffee--I know this isn't a new fave, but I just love coffee! I'm actually drinking some right now. It just makes me happy:)

This is a really short list for today. Maybe I'll add more as the week goes on. What are some of your current favorite things?

you don't own me!

The other night I came home and Simba was very agitated. His fur was all bushy and he kept jumping around. I sat on the couch to watch tv and he jumped on my lap, something he rarely does. I tried petting his fur to make it stay down but it didn't work. After a few minutes of him sitting on me, I got tired of it and pushed him off. Another few minutes went by and I looked down at my pants and noticed something brown on them. I had gone to dinner that evening so I thought maybe I had gotten some food on them or something. I tried to get the stuff off and then I smelled it...Simba totally poohed on me! Nasty! I was horrified.

A friend told me, "Maybe he was marking his territory." With pooh?!

bridesmaid dresses

I am in a wedding this summer. My friend is getting married in Florida but is originally from Michigan and that is where she is ordering the dresses. She sent me the info for a shop here in DFW that would have the exact dress so I could try it on and figure out what size I needed. This is always a horrifying experience in my opinion. And this was no exception. I walked into the shop and found an associate. I asked her if I can try on the dress and she said, "We probably don't have it!" I said the website said they did and she pointed to the back corner and said, "The bridesmaid dresses are back there," and walked away. I walked to the back of this massive dress shop and found the bridesmaid dresses; it was complete chaos. There was no order, I had no idea where to start and there was no one back there to help me. After looking through the mass of dresses for a few minutes, I finally just left. They are on my black list now...

I called the bridal shop in Michigan and spoke to a sweet woman who was very helpful. I gave her my measurements (this is never fun to do!) and she looked at the size chart for this dress. According to the chart, my bust and hips are one size and my waist is 2 sizes bigger! What the heck!? So, I ended up having to order for my waist size knowing that the bust is going to be out of control! Why do they make dresses like this!? Thank goodness for alterations.

the female psyche

"It’s like a volcano.....it can be pretty to look at from a distance, even intriguing. But if you climb to the top and look down into the cone, there is a good chance you could either die from the sulfur, or it could explode and kill you."

--quote from a male friend

for my fans...

All 3 of you!

Kelli requested that I add more so that the cat pee title does not appear on the screen when she logs onto my page. Plus, Karebear is an emotional pregnant woman and it's best not to upset her anymore. At least that's the line she's feeding me.

It's been a busy few weeks! Here's the rundown:

*Got the IKEA bookshelf put together (with some help!). I'll take a pic and post it soon. I haven't finished arranging everything yet.
*Have gone to the movies twice recently. Night at the Museum is super cute and funny, highly recommend. Rocky Balboa was surprisingly good, better than I expected. If you are a Rocky fan (Karen), you'll like the latest (and let's hope the last because Sly is looking a little rough) installment.
*School started back up this week. Monday was a teacher work day, lots of silly meetings. Tuesday the kiddos were back and I wish I had a dollar for each time I heard the phrase, "But Miss K, we just got back from vacation!" It's been hard to get back into the groove again. I'm hoping it will be better this coming week.
*Currently North Texas is going through an ice storm that started this morning and will continue until Monday morning. Thank goodness I have Monday off so I won't have to make that day up! I was supposed to go to San Antonio to see a friend but decided against it for fear of getting stuck there.
*Life is going well right now:)
*Caught the last few minutes of the UNC-VT game today. GO HOKIES!!! We beat #5Duke earlier this week and now we've beaten #1UNC. We are #1 in the ACC. It's about time our basketball team showed up!

Karebear, is this enough for now?

update

Because Kelli doesn't like the words cat pee anymore!

It has been a while and I know I should fill you in on my life.

But you'll just have to wait!!!:)

cat pee...

is the worst thing ever invented! Well, I guess it wasn't really invented, but what the heck!? It is the worst smelling thing in the world and once it is absorbed into an object it is nearly impossible to get rid of the odor.

I was cleaning out my office area today. I only have one bookshelf and as most of you know, I'm a super nerd and one bookshelf isn't nearly enough for all the books I have. I had some piles of books in front of the bookshelf, sitting there waiting for a place to call home. I picked up one of the piles and noticed that the books on the bottom where sticky. I put my nose closer to the books and realized that one of my stupid cats had peed on them! What made it even worse is that one of the books vandalized was my Spanish/English Bible that I used in Venezuela that has tremendous sentimental value. I was ticked! I was ready to ship some kitties off (I don't know which one of them did it so I choose to be mad at both of them).

I was in such a state of devastation that I grabbed the first cleaner I could find, which was Resolve carpet cleaner. I figure if it can clean up cat puke out of the carpet, it can surely clean cat pee off my leather bound Bible. It didn't work, and thankfully didn't ruin the Bible cover. Next, following the advice from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I pulled out the Windex. It got the stickiness but did not get rid of the smell. I then used dish detergent but still to no avail. I called a friend in a panic and she suggested Febreeze. Would this really work?! I tried it and no more smell! I am now a true believer in the miraculous working power of this product! I should go on an infomercial with the guy who screams about the orange cleaner...

I was fortunate in that the pee did not get on any of the pages, just on the cover. Not sure how that happened but I am thankful. I think satan led my cat to pee on the Word of God, but the Holy Spirit prevented the actual pages from being ruined. Can't say the same for the Bible study book that was underneath...

plans for the week

Happy New Year!

I'm so happy I have this whole week off, it's so nice! I have a few things I'd like to get accomplished and I really hope it all happens. Here's my list so far:

*clean out my office area--it's a disaster and has been since I moved in
*give my apartment a good cleaning
*go clothes shopping
*venture up to IKEA--yes, even after the last experience; I have a giftcard and I need to use it on something fun:)
*plan for the next several weeks--yes, even though I'm on vacation, I have a lot to do before going back next week; I want to be prepared!

I'll let you know how things come along...

road trippin'

I am now in the beautiful Commonwealth of Virginia! I love it here; even in the winter it's breathtaking.

Yesterday I woke up at 5:20 (I had my alarm set for 6am but for some reason my body will not allow me to sleep past 5:30 anymore!), loaded up my car, made a Starbucks run (grande triple shot nonfat latte, yum!) and hit the road for 17.5 straight hours. I stopped every couple of hours for a quick break and 30 minutes for lunch, but pretty much drove the whole time. It was horrible! I never, ever want to make that drive by myself in one day again! I will say it is nice to wake up this morning in my mom's house instead of a hotel somewhere, but I am so exhausted. I pulled in at 2:30 Eastern time.

Why am I awake now? Who knows!? I'm completely exhausted but I can not sleep. I woke up even before my mom! So, as I wait for the orange rolls to bake I thought I'd give a quick update.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas! I love you guys!!!

Christmas time is here again!

What a week! School finished yesterday and I literally wanted to do cartwheels down the hall, similar to the scene from Bring It On when Missy is trying out. Too bad I never learned how to do that...Anyways, I have been sick since last weekend which totally stinks. I have to admit, it's been nice not getting sick until now. Last year I was sick so many times I lost count.

I was going to leave today for my uber-long drive to Virginia, but after thinking about it, I decided that it might be wiser to let myself have a full day of rest before heading out. Why was I in such a rush anyways? So, today I slept in, now I need to pick up a few items for the road trip and clean up my apartment a little, drop off the keys to a friend who will be taking care of my kitties while I'm away, and pack. I may throw in a nap somewhere as well:)

I'm excited to be going home! I love Virginia! Here are some things I'm looking forward to:

*seeing my nephew!

*laughing with my sister

*opening fun presents and watching people open theirs

*seeing Kelli:)

*seeing the mountains again; even though they won't be as pretty this time of year, it still beats the flatness of Texas!

*visiting my Grandma

Have a very Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

happy

God is so good to me! ;-D

TAG!

A - Available or taken: available, very available...any takers?:)

B - Best Friends: Dawn, Kelli, Karen, Summer

C - Cake or Pie: that's a hard choice, both are so tasty! i do really like pie, especially the crust

D - Drink of choice: Woodchuck

E - Essential Item you use everyday: lotion; it is so dry here!

F - Favorite color: blue

G - Gummy Bears or worms: worms

H - Hometown: Rocky Mount, VA

I- Indulgence: chocolate, and lots of it!

J - January or February: neither

K - Kids & Names: 2, Simba and Ginger

L - Life is Incomplete Without? God.

M - Marriage Date: ???

N - Number of Siblings: 3; one bro, one sis, and one half-bro

O - Oranges or Apples: apples, especially pink lady, yum!

P - Phobias or Fears: the dark (i know, lame)

Q - Fave Quote: i can't think of one...

R - Reason to Smile: it's the weekend!

S - Season: depends on where i live; in Texas, fall or winter

T - Tag 3 or 4 people: um....

U - Unknown Fact about Me: i'm not sure...i don't have an appendix anymore

V- Vegetable You Don't Like: califlower, yuck!

W - Worst Habit: self criticism

X – Xrays: yes, but never had a broken bone

Y - Your Fave Food: chocolate, and berries

Z - Zodiac Sign: gemini

service

One thing I have learned about myself is I love to do community service projects. My church has partnered with a church in South Dallas which is committed to seeing its community changed for eternity. I have done things on various Saturdays, from scraping paint off houses to raking up poison ivy, and I have loved it. Before it sounds like I'm tooting my own horn here and allowing you to believe that I'm this wonderful, altruistic person, I really don't do enough. This is such a small contribution and I have been convicted to do more.

Today some members of the single's ministry I'm involved in went around to the homes of some lovely elderly women to decorate for the holidays. It was such a joy to be able to provide lights and wreathes and goodie baskets! At one house in particular, the sweet lady almost started crying she was so touched.

I want to do more! I want to do as Jesus did and reach out to those in need. There are so many hurting people in this world who desperately need God's love and I just pray that I can be His instrument to give that love to others. I'm excited to see how God will use me for His glory!

amendment

As you can tell, I deleted my previous rant session. It's funny how God works. He has answered my prayers in some interesting ways. Over the last few days and weeks, I have come into contact with some cool Christian guys. I'm not saying there is any potential in anything beyond friendship, but I am thankful that God is allowing me to meet these men and restore my faith that they do, in fact, exist. As far as if they will become a permanent fixture in my life, that remains to be told...

Holy Frostbitten Toes, Batman!

BRRRRRR!!!! It's 28 degrees right now. In Texas! We are experiencing an "Artic Blast" and boy, is it chilly!

My students were disappointed that school was not cancelled. They kept waiting in anticipation for the announcement that school would be closed early. No such luck.

I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow. I want to have school because if we miss, we will have to make it up in the spring when we will desperately need a day off. But I do hope we go in late; that would be nice...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope your day is filled with lots of yummy food, great memories, and tremendous amounts of love.

What am I thankful for this year?

*God, and His amazing grace! I can not express how much I love God and how thankful I am that He is always with me, allowing me to be called His child. I just hope that I glorify Him through my life.

*My beautiful friendships! I love all you wonderful ladies--Dawn, Kelli, Karen, Summer, Megan, Christy, Alice, Jaye, Lau, Angela, Amanda, Germana--you are all so beautiful and amazing:)

*My family, especially my adorable nephew! He is so dang cute!

*My job--I am so thankful to work in the school I do, with all the diversity and cultures represented. My students are awesome and I love working with them. I never thought I'd love high schoolers, but God has shown me that they are full of hopes and dreams and I want to see them reach their goals.

*My amazing church! I love IBC! God has blessed me with an amazing church family. I love the pastor and the Holy Spirit always touches my heart through his sermons. The singles' ministry I am involved in is fabulous and I am thankful for so many new friends who are on this same journey through life, seeking God's glory and desiring to live full out for Him.

*Hard lessons learned--I know, you are thinking, "what?!" but God has been faithful through some hard situations this year and I am thankful that if I had to go through them, God was with me, leading me, guiding me, and reassuring me of His presence. I have learned so much about God's character as well as what I am made of, and I feel stronger as a result.

*The upcoming roadtrip home! I am so excited to be able to drive 1100+ miles home for Christmas. It will be a good time of reflection, not thinking about work, and seeing the country.

I am thankful for so many things, but I will end my list here. God has been so faithful and good to me this year. I hope you are able to rejoice in all that He has provided for you. And even if you don't believe in God, I hope that you are able to reflect on life and be thankful for the many blessings that you have:)

What are you most thankful for?

oh, no, she didn't...

Ah, the joys of teaching. Last week, we reviewed the differences between the verbs ser and estar; they both mean "to be" in Spanish but are used at different times to express different ideas. For their warm-up at the beginning of class I had simple questions on the board for my students to answer in complete sentences. One of them was "Como eres?" which means "What are you like?" I was looking for answers like "I am tall" or "I am funny", simple things like that. One overly confident kid answered with "Soy caliente." The Spanish speakers around him started to chuckle and I kind of hid my face. I told him, "You never want to say that in Spanish." He asked why and I decided to humor the class. "Because it means you are horny." The class burst out into laughter. He was embarrassed, but I knew he could take it because he is one of the class clowns.

This would have been a good story, but wait, it gets better! In the midst of all the laughter, a girl says to me, "Miss, that's not what it means." She's Hispanic, kind of a rough girl, in a gang, etc. I looked at her and asked, "Excuse me?" She said, "That's not what it means. It just means he's hot, like good looking." I replied, "In Spain and Venezuela both it means the other." I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and added, "It could be different where you learned Spanish." She said, "How do you even know? You're not from those places." I told her that I lived in Venezuela for 2 years and studied in Spain. She gave some sort of sarcastic reply and I told her to go outside. She said, "Why? Because you are wrong?" and I said, "No, because you are being argumentative and I will not have it in my class." As she got up to walk outside, she said, "Stupid b****!" I looked at her and asked, "Would you mind repeating that so I can make sure to get it right on your office referral?" So she repeated it in a much higher volume. I asked, "Anything else you'd like me to add?" to which she responded, "I don't give a f*** what you write." Nice to know.

I wrote up the referral half expecting her to not be there when I opened the door. She was waiting. I handed the referral to her and said, "I'm not even going to discuss this with you; you know what you did was wrong." Later on, I confirmed that she actually went to the office. Her punishment? 1 day out of school suspension, 1 day in school suspension.

As I was writing the referral, the other students said, "I can't believe she would say that to a teacher, especially you!" Everyone else in the class likes me, she's the only one I have trouble with. Hopefully one day she will turn her life around...

Texas State Fair (finally!)

At Jason's Deli, before the fair. Yummy!

Meg and I enjoying Fried Coke.

cutest nephew ever!

I know I'm biased, but just look at that face!!!

road trip!

I'm thinking about driving half way across the country to visit my family at Christmas. 1100 miles. That's a long way! Flights are ridiculously expensive and I thought it might be fun (or at least interesting) to drive the 17+ hours. Lots of time for books on cd and good car tunes. I'm kind of getting excited about it!

What do you think?

random post

For some reason I can't get my Texas State Fair pics to upload, sorry. I can email them to you if you'd like. Just let me know.

It's been such a crazy couple of weeks. I know I haven't blogged in a while and it's impossible to try to catch up. Homecoming was fun but stressful. Last week I was asked to step down from my student council co-sponsor position. I was actually ready to resign (I had letter in hand when asked to step down). There is a whole big long story involved with this, but since I don't know who reads my blog I'll skip the details. If you want to know, I can email you the gruesome story...And just to be clear, I am still teaching, just not doing student council. A guy at church thought I had been asked to resign my teaching position! Can you imagine!? I'd be a mess!!!

My phone finally bit the dust. And I ordered a new one just in time! The old one broke in half last night (went to reach for the alarm to make sure it was set and knocked the already broken phone on the floor; that was all it took). The new one arrived this afternoon, yay! Actually, I take the yay! back because I'm not super excited about it. It's bigger than my other phone (although it does have a camera so that's kind of spiffy) but it's not as cool as I hoped. But what do I need all those gadgets and bells and whistles for, anyways?! I think I've been hanging around high schoolers too long...

I desperately need to go grocery shopping. I have nothing to eat. I feel like such a college student! After work I am so tired that I don't want to go and then on the weekends it's such a madhouse that I make excuses not to go then.

So, that's life in a nutshell. I'm going to keep seeing about adding those pictures because they are super fun.

another student comment

I promise to blog more soon; it has been so crazy lately! Being the Student Council co-sponsor is a huge job and whew! am I tired.

Anyways, this was just too funny to not blog right away. Last night we had an officers meeting. The girls and I were chit chatting about the Homecoming dance (which is tomorrow night!) and I asked them how I should fix my hair. One girl said, "Oh, Miss K, can we make you pretty?!" and then when she realized what she said, she quickly added, "--er than normal?" I laughed until I was crying! She is so sweet and I never would have thought she was saying I wasn't normally pretty, but she wanted to make sure she fixed it. Too much!

I'll post my fun Texas State Fair pics soon!

addiction

My name is Annette and I am a Lostiholic.

I am addicted to this show! And the funny thing is that I have no clue what the heck is going on!!! Each week I have more and more questions and as I watch a new episode, those questions are not answered, just more and more get added. For example, where are Michael and Walter? What happened to Locke and Eco and Desmond in the hatch? Are they still alive? Who are the "Others" and why are they torturing Sawyer and Kate? Can Sawyer look any hotter?! How did Ben get a copy of the 2004 World Series to show Jack that the Red Sox won? What do the heirogliphics in the hatch mean? Will I ever get all the answers? Ugh!!!

I also found some cool merchandise that I would love to have! Check these out:

A new requirement for my classroom journals.

Anyone want to try to beat me?

My kind of dollhouse!

But don't forget all the dolls to go with it...

And lastly, I really, REALLY want this!!!

suffering continued...

It's good I had all those verses handy last night because I went through one of the harshest periods of suffering this season! All I can say is...nothing; words completey escape me. I can't even muster up a "go H-word"...it's too painful...

Someone pass the bottle...

ouch!

The process of being beautiful is oftentimes painful. That's all I have to say about that.

suffering

I have been learning a lot from God's Word recently about suffering and enduring through it. I wanted to share some verses that have been encouraging to me that I have come across or others have pointed out. I hope they encourage you in the same way.

1Peter 1:6-7 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Acts 16:25 "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." (this is after they are arrested, stripped and flogged, then thrown in prison, feet put in stocks so that the only position they could put their bodies was to lay flat on their backs that were just ripped open)

Psalm 40:17 "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay."

Psalm 43:2-4 "You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holdy mountain, to place where you dwell. Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God."

Ecclesiastes 1:18 "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief." (you may wonder why I find this one encouraging; in a weird way, it's nice to know that as I grow in knowledge I will experience more sorrow as I realize more and more that this earth is not my home)

My prayer is that when I do go through times of suffering that I remember and cling to God's truth and rely completely on Him.

movie review

I watched Syriana tonight. Do not watch this movie unless you are fully awake and at full mental capacity! It was good and fast paced, but very confusing in parts. Or maybe it's just that I'm not that intelligent and it was too hard for my feeble mind to follow. Either way, it was good and I felt somewhat informative, although I have to wonder at how accurate it really is. But I can't complain too much; Matt Damon was in it for crying out loud!

comment from a student as he left my class...

"Miss, if you get a hangover this weekend, make sure to drink lots of water. Not that I know from personal experience or anything..."

rise and shine!

Oh, my gosh, I am exhausted! It's Friday, 5:55am, and I am still needing to get ready for school. I'm sitting here, unable to move. The caffeine has not kicked in yet.

Every Friday I feel like this, like I am a zombie and will never get out of the fog. After work, I usually come home, lay down for what I think will just be a few minutes, then wake up 3 hours laster. Why can't my body get used to this nightmarish schedule?!

I hope everyone is doing well. Yay, it's almost the weekend! I have some fun plans that I will expand on later:)

gross!!!

Simba just ate a cricket! He's always finding bugs, plays with them for a while, then eats them! Nasty:-P His all time faves are the huge cucarachas because they are hardy and live a while so he can play with them longer. Bleck!

already?!

The 3rd week of school just finished, and already I have my first cold. Last year I was sick numerous times, at least once a month, with some sort of respiratory crud. I even went to the doctor last fall because I needed to get another inhaler (I used to only use it for exercise every once in a while but last fall I needed it almost once per day). Several students were sniffling in class last week but I didn't think I would catch it.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and already it has moved to the sneezing stage. Hopefully that means it will be over sooner. I'm really tired and achy, blech! Enough complaining...

Time to start the tissue box collection campaign in my classes...

beautiful day in the neighborhood!

It's such an amazing day today! It's currently 70 degrees and raining! I have a window open and the A/C is turned off. I can actually breathe! I know most people would think this would be depressing weather, but when it hasn't rained in months, you begin to long for days like this.

blah

So, I'm feeling kind of blah today. I guess I can't have all super great days. I kind of know why I'm feeling this way, but I'm not sure I want to get into it here. I'm tired. Let's just leave it at that. Life is exhausting!

Is it the weekend yet?

i'm a survivor!

I survived the first week of school, YAY!!! Only 35 more to go...

Highlights from the first week:

*I love my classes! I have a great bunch of kids this year and even though I can tell I'll have a couple of challenging ones, on the whole they are awesome!

*I thought my 4th period on A days would be a problem (big class, lots of talkers) but I acted totally goofy with them yesterday and they loved it! I think we will have a lot of fun in that class, although it will still be a challenge to get them to stop talking.

*Only having one prep this year (Spanish II only) is going to be fantastic.

*My student council kids rock! They are super motivated and fun and it's easy to lead them because they basically lead themselves.

*My students are actually calling me by my name. They will start to say "miss, miss!" but then remember and quickly add on my last name. It's great!

*I have a couple of students who have already admitted that they love Spanish (non-native speakers). I'm looking forward to feeding into that for them.

*Even though it's been somewhat of a nightmare with the A/C problem, a guy from the district's maintenance team came out yesterday and he's going to make sure the problem is fixed. They are going to get rid of the silly window unit and put in a central system! Not sure when this will happen, but I'm encouraged that things are moving forward.

*I've had some fun surprises this week that I'm still smiling about:)

I feel so blessed right now! We'll see how I feel in another month or so...

no child left behind...

My co-worker was discussing the importance of learning a foreign language with her class. She asked, “if you are going into the military right now, what language would it be beneficial to learn?”

One kid raised his hand and replied, “British?”

school days...

I survived the first day back! Actually, my classes were pretty good. I'm really going to enjoy teaching all Spanish II this year. My classes are huge, but they seem well behaved, so far. We'll see how it goes as the year progresses.

The worst thing about today is that the A/C in my portable is not working. It was over 100 degrees today. This morning during 1st period, my A/C got the room down to 85 (still pretty toasty with 32 students in the room) but by 4th period, it was 91 degrees! My students were sweating and complaining, and I can't blame them. It was awful! We are trying to get the issue resolved with maintainance, but who knows when it will get fixed. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow...

The one good thing about it is that after 8 hours in a sauna, I won't need to go exercise! I'll lose all the weight I want to through sweating! Nice, I'm sure I am super appealing to be around right now...

Lau's painting

I thought you might like to see the painting Laurice made for me. Isn't it amazing!? It has so many aspects of Maracaibo that I love to look at and remember.

"I cannot live without books."--Thomas Jefferson

Patricia tagged me with this list, and it's actually one that I was excited about doing:) I'm such a book worm...the librarians at the public library in my home town know my whole family by name...by the way, it's kind of scary how similar Patricia, Karin and I are in our reading choices!

1. A book that changed your life:
The Bible, still changing my life!
Abba's Child by Brennan Manning
Changes That Heal by Henry Cloud, this is totally cheesy but I read it at a very important time in my life and it really did change the way I view my life.

2. Books you’ve read more than once:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, this is my favorite fiction book of all time. I don't even know how many times I have read it!

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Bible, can not live without it!!!

4. A book that made you laugh:
Anything by Donald Miller, he cracks me up!
The Princess Bride edited by William Goldman

5. A book that made you cry:
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherin Paterson and Donna Diamond, I was in the 7th grade when I read this book and it was the first time one affected me so emotionally.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, this is one of my all time favorite books.

6. One book you wish had been written:
Yesh, I have no idea!

7. One book you wish had never been written:
Some of the boring text books I had to read for classes in college...
I also agree with the Josh Harris comment by Karin; his book just ticked me off!

8. Books you’re currently reading:
When Life and Beliefs Collide by Carolyn James (re-reading it)
Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
These are all part of my "I'm going to read as much as I can because it's summer and I actually have time" list. I'm trying to finish these books up but with school starting tomorrow, I'm not sure that I will...

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Just one!? So many books, so little time...Here's a short list.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Desiring God by John Piper
Stonewall Jackson by James Robertson, I can't find it anywhere here! I guess I'll have to order it online...
The Essential 55 by Ron Clark, did you guys see the movie on TNT? Really good! Almost makes me want to teach in inner city New York...almost. Then I remember that I kind of teach in an inner city school now and I come back to reality very quickly!
Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien

I know that several of my readers are also book lovers like me. So, what's your list look like?:)

beautiful day

Here is my beautiful friend Laurice. She is here in Texas for a 2 week training and I had the awesome privledge to spend the entire day with her today. I have known her for 7 years! We met in Maracaibo, Venezuela the first year I was there and have been friends ever since. She is just an amazing woman with a huge heart. We had a great day of shopping, eating at the Cheesecake Factory (yum!), and just talking. It is fabulous to hear Venezuelan Spanish again! The usual Spanish spoken here is of the Mexican variety and it just doesn't sing in my ears like Venezuelan Spanish.

Here are some of my fave things about Lau:
*Her smile! She can light up the room and make anyone feel welcome!
*She tries to see the good in everything.
*She has a desire to love those who others may deem as unloveable.
*Her artistic side! I have a fabulous painting that she made for me of Maracaibo hanging in my living room. When she saw it today, she said, "wow, I had forgotten about that!" It's one of my favorite gifts I've ever received.
*She is super intelligent!
*Her laugh.
*She was always willing to wake up super early to walk the 2+ miles to our fave bakery in Maracaibo for our discipleship times. Good times!

There are a million more, but those are the ones that instantly come to mind. !!!Te quiero muchisimo, Lolo!!!

Virginia is for lovers...

How can you not fall in love with these mountains?!

pics

Here are a couple of pictures for you. The first one is my SIL and me. The second is my grandma, mom, and adorable nephew.

hello

Wow, I have been quite the absent blogger lately. I don't even have the excuse of nothing going on because I just came back from 9 days in the beautiful state of Virginia. It was so great being home again! I missed the mountains and green just as much as I thought I did. I took a drive one day, just going down some back roads to take it all in. I got to see my beautiful nephew, too! He is so cute! I tried to upload some pics but Blogger isn't letting me right now, so I will try later.

Life is crazy right now. School starts officially next week so this week is filled with teacher in-services and other various meetings. Plus, I have to get my classroom ready which is always a lot of work. I have huge classes this year, too, because we only have 4 teachers for level 2, as opposed to 6 last year. I am looking forward to the year starting, though.

A few fun things that have happened recently:
*My beautiful friend Dawn came to visit her brother and sister-in-law who happen to live in Dallas so I got to see her too! It was much too short, but so sweet to spend the little bit of time we did together.
*Another beautiful friend, Lau, is in town from Venezuela for training for her job! I have not seen her in 3 years so I am so excited to be able to spend time with her this coming weekend!
*I was officially made head teacher of Spanish II. I know, this isn't too exciting for most of you, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
*My school district just voted for a nice pay raise for teachers! Yay!

That's all for now, but I will try to get those photos posted ASAP:)

an amazing life

Please read this article on the life of Billy Graham, possibly the greatest evangelist in history. His life inspires me to live more full out for God's glory.

i feel jipped!

Warning: If you have not seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest yet, you may want to skip this post. I'll try not to give too much away, though.

A few weekends back I went to see The Lake House with a friend. It's a nice, quiet, romantic movie that was in a theater right next to a horror flick with super high bass. My friend and I enjoyed the movie but were frustrated with the booming next door so we complained to the manager. She gave us rainchecks, yay!

I knew exactly what I wanted to use my raincheck for...to see my future husband Orlando Bloom in his new movie, of course! I was so excited to see it and was as giddy as a kid when it finally started after what felt like an hour of previews.

The movie is very similar to the first; action sequence after action sequence with barely any time to catch your breath (or your thoughts to figure out what the heck is going on). Johnny Depp is great as Captain Jack Sparrow; gotta love his facial expressions and the way he runs. There are twists and turns and lots of gross creatures (how do these people come up with these ideas?!) It makes me want to go back to the Caribbean and the beautiful white beaches and crystal blue water. It was definitely a great way to spend 2 and 1/2 hours on a Sunday afternoon.

So, why do I feel jipped? Based on the first installment, I figured it would be a great story with some kind of resolution. After watching the first one, they could have stopped and we would have been none the wiser. It can stand on its own without a sequel. Not so with numero 2. I won't ruin anything, but the last scene I'm sitting on the edge of my seat thinking, "oh my gosh, we have at least another half hour of adventure to go!" Then, the words "directed by" flash on the screen and it's over!!! I sat and stared at the credits for several seconds before I figured out what was going on. It was like a cliff hanger at the end of a tv season and you have to wait until September for the new season to start, except because this is a huge big budget movie, I'll have to wait much longer. Totally stinks!

Okay, let's be honest...it's not like I wasn't going to see the 3rd one when it comes out anyways. I'll see just about any movie with Orlando Bloom:-) I think I may be a little obsessed...looking into group therapy...

Happy Independence Day!

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" --Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty

"America--a great social and economic experiement, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose." --Herbert Hoover

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom." --Malcolm X

"There's the country of America, which you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea. An idea that's supposed to be contagious." --Bono

"America is not merely a nation but a nation of nations." --Lyndon B. Johnson

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Guess what, peeps! I'm coming to Orlando! I can not wait to get there and see everyone. I never thought I'd miss Orlando so much:) I will be in town July 11-19th. I want to see as many people as possible! I'll call people to make sure you are around; please pencil me in somewhere in those busy schedules!

Things I'm looking forward to on my trip to Orlando:

*cathcing up with lots of friends

*going to Karen's wedding

*the beach!!!

*seeing Cheri's wedding dress

*eating at Season's 52 with my bff Tiger

*meeting Christy's bird Franz

*driving by the last place I worked and thanking God that I don't work there anymore (not CCC)

*Backyard Burger, yum!

*getting out of Dallas!

Wow, I never realized how much I have to be thankful for as far as Orlando goes. This makes me even more excited!

food for thought

"Each of us is running the race God has marked out for her. This race is not determined by the good or evil actions of others, no matter who they are or how much power they hold over us. Neither do we run wherever we please. God has planned our race, and he is carrying out his plan--a plan that guarantees our good and his glory. Nothing--not principalities or powers, not the devil himself, not even we--can throw God off his plan or prevent him from accomplishing his good purposes for us. We run a planned race...

...[If] God is sovereign, then plan B is a myth. No matter how dark things look to us, or how big the mess we're in, we're in plan A. God's plan for us is intact, proceeding exactly as he intended, neither behind nor ahead but right on schedule. Nothing--not our sins, failures, disappointments, bad decisions, nor the sins of others against us--can deter a sovereign God from accomplishing his purposes."

from When Life and Beliefs Collide by Carolyn Custis James

realization

After viewing the preview for a new movie coming out, The Holiday, a friend and I decided it would be smarter to move to England than LA...

trick mirrors

Whenever I go to try on clothes at stores like Ann Taylor, the mirrors are set at an angle so that you look thinner than you are. Good trick, since it will make you more likely to buy the clothes.

I've been working out like crazy recently, going to the gym almost everyday. I've also been eating right and trying to be healthier with my choices. I have lost some weight, definitely, and that makes me feel good because it's working.

When I'm at the gym, I use free weights for part of my routine. I like to stand in front of the mirror to make sure my form is correct. One thing I've noticed is that I look so slim in those mirrors. I think, "hey, good lookin'!" Okay, not really, but I'm impressed with what I see. But when I get home and look in my bathroom mirror, it's a different story. I'm not quite so impressed.

Okay, who messed with the bathroom mirror?! Because the gym mirror obviously has to be the truest one, right?

my 15 minutes

You know the old saying "everyone gets a shot at 15 minutes of fame"? I had mine this past Saturday. I volunteered to do some community service. Check out the article about the event.

Notice the photo with the article. Yeah, that's me with the black shorts and gray shirt. Figures that my 15 minutes would be of my backside!

happy father's day?

I was in church this morning and the pastor started out by saying, "It's a very special day today." I thought, "huh?" and racked my brain trying to figure out what the date was.

He continues: "The US Open is being played today."

Oh, I get it, he's making a joke.

"And the Mavs play tonight."

Again, adding to the sports banter he likes to add to some of his sermons.

Then, the shocker: "And it's Father's Day!"

Oops! Did he just say Father's Day?! I'm thinking to myself. Please realize, it's easy for me to forget holidays that involve fathers but I felt like such a dope for some reason. So, in light of it being a holiday dedicated to those Dads in our lives...

Happy Father's Day, God!!!:-)

Props to Abba for sending Jesus to save me:) I love you!!!

lost

I used to have a friend named Karen. She was a regular on Blogger. Has anyone seen her?! If so, please tell her to UPDATE HER BLOG!

Love you, Karebear!:-)

more kitty pics!

Simba on top of the couch, waiting to pounce

how could you not love that face?!

Ginger, doing what she does best...lounging around! I love her belly!!!

checking things out outside

so, what do you think?

of the new 'do, that is:) I just got it cut and styled today so I thought I'd take a picture to show everyone because it will never look like this again (too bad my stylist doesn't live with me...). I kind of have bangs (you can't see them that well); it's the swept bang look. I think I like it!

PS--Does anyone know how to get rid of the white spaces when cropping a pic?

ruined

I hate the fact that I don't have a light over my washing machine. The closet where the washer and dryer are located is very dark.

I am doing laundry today and washed a load of darks. After I cleared out the washer, I started running hot water and poured in some bleach; time to do the whites. As the washer starts to fill up and I'm sorting through the clothes I want to throw in, I notice that there is something dark rising in the water. I grabbed it and burned myself because the water is so hot. But the burn was nothing compared to the pit in my stomach when I realized which article of clothing it was...a t-shirt that I bought from the Universidad de Sevilla when I was there on a summer mission trip in college. Sure, it's an old shirt, but it is my favorite t-shirt ever! This is an amazing piece of clothing. It has barely faded in the 9 years I've owned it, and there are no holes. It has retained it's shape and is super soft and comfy. I don't wear it out really, just to lounge around the house. But it holds so many memories! I rinsed it out in the tub hoping to undo some of the damage. Now I have a navy t-shirt with orangish spots all over it. Ugh!

Any suggestions? Do you think if I dye it navy it will work?

recap

I've been MIA again lately, sorry! Here's a recap of my life the last few weeks:

School ended! It was super stressful at the end but I am enjoying my vacation:)

I took 4 students to a leadership camp last week. We had a blast! These kids are super motivated and want to change the world, such a refreshing change from what I usually see in my classroom. We laughed a lot! And they can not handle Dublin Dr. Pepper without getting super hyper...Has anyone ever heard of Dublin D.P.? Dublin is where the largest D.P. bottling plant is located. They have a special formula that using cane sugar instead of corn syrup and it's a speciality found only in Dublin and speciality stores elsewhere. It has a different taste which I actually like.

I turned 30 a week ago. The actual day was fun. I was still at camp and my kids made me wear a ribbon that said, "birthday girl". They also embarrassed me by singing "happy birthday" several times. I recieved numerous phone calls which was so fun. Upon my return home, I had lots of cards to read. I felt very celebrated. To top it all off, co-workers took me out for dinner at one of my fave spots, Red Lobster, yum!

I hate to admit it, but I love driving big, gas hogging SUV's! I drove a Suburban to the camp and it was awesome! I loved being so high up in the air and it drove really comfortably. Don't worry, I'm not going to rush out and buy one. The gas alone would put me in debt! It was fun while it lasted though, and then when I got back into my own car I felt like I was on the ground.

That's all the updates I have for now. This week I'm just enjoying the free time and doing lots of reading. Next week I really want to get into doing some lesson planning so I can be prepared next year! (we'll see if this really happens...)

lounging

Now, that's what I call relaxing!

*disclaimer*

The following posts were written in a delusional, "it's almost the end of school and I'm quite cuckoo" state of mind. Please forgive the fluff. I don't think I could have an intelligent adult conversation if I tried; it might just push me over the edge, and let me tell you, there's not much keeping me on.

Orlando anyone?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest opens July 7th. I just watched the trailor and oh my gosh!!! It looks awesome!!! I ask you, who two better looking men to put in one movie!? Oh, well, there are Eric Bana (who was in Troy with Orlando Bloom) and Hugh Jackman (can't find a movie connection but there should be!). I think I have a thing for foreign men. I know Johnny Depp isn't foreign, but he's been living in France for so long that he thinks he is:)

So, based on these 4 men, I have come to some conclusions about the types of men I am attracted to:
*dark hair and eyes
*cultured sounding (Orlando is British and Eric and Hugh are Australian and Johnny has that cool French accent going on)
*deep voices
*versitle
*good guys, nice all around
*tall (although I'm not sure how tall Johnny is)

Now, what do I need to do about this? I think I need to move overseas. It seems like the odds go with Australia.

Unfortunately, for me, instead of marrying someone who looks like Hugh Jackman, I'll end up with someone who looks like Jack Black. Maybe he'll make me laugh, though...

AI

This season of American Idol has been da' bomb! (I am such a white girl) I have loved Taylor Hicks from his first audition. I love the fact that Simon has to eat his words (if you'll recall, he stated that Taylor would never make it to the finals). Don't get me wrong, Katharine McPhee has an amazing voice, but she seems kind of plastic when she's up there on stage. Taylor is so fun and energetic, he gets the crowd going and is truly a performer.

On another AI note, Carrie Underwood just scored AMC Single of the Year! Way to go! I also loved her from the beginning and knew she would win last season:) I think I'm becoming a prophet...I wonder if I can see anything about my own future...Maybe I can score a big smoke and fire machine and a huge velvet curtain and become the All Powerful Wizard of Oz...

ohhh, i...i will survive!

2...more...days!!!!

My students are so nutso and I have lost all will to do anything about it. One girl was very disrespectful to me today (has been all year) and I just calmly said, "please go stand outside." I continued with the review game we were playing and when the groups were trying to answer a question, I wrote up an office referral and walked outside. I looked at her and very calmly said, "I have nothing to say to you. You have been disrespectful to me all year. Here you go." I then walked back inside. I have no idea if she made it to the office, and honestly I don't really care. As long as she's not in my class I think we're both happier:)

life

I turn 30 in 3 weeks from today.

Since I don't have any friends here, I'll probably be spending the day alone.

I thought about taking a short roadtrip somewhere, but then I'd still be alone.

Sigh...

sick, AGAIN!!!

Yes, you read correctly, I am sick once again. I can't even count how many times this makes. I thought it was a case of really bad allergies, but after two nights of little sleep, I'm pretty sure it's a cold. I just hope I'm better by tomorrow. We got an email from our head principal basically saying that unless we're bleeding out the eyes we need to be at school. It's a good thing we're just doing exam review this week and I don't really have to come up with lesson plans.

yet another update

Grrrrrr!!! I'm so frustrated with this past week. I don't feel like I did that badly with my eating and I worked out a total of 4 times (didn't quite make the 5 mark). And the end result? I didn't lose any weight, again! If another person tells me that I'm just gaining muscle, I'm going to scream! How can I continue to gain muscle mass this quickly? If I keep this up, I'm going to be gaining weight!

So, no change to report in weight. But I did buy a new pair of running shoes and I've been breaking those in. I'm enjoying getting back into running. The treadmill can be a bit boring at times, but there aren't any good asphalt trails near my apartment, only concrete which I hate running on. I'll have to do some more exploring. It will soon be too hot to think about running outside, though.

Okay, some goals for this coming week. I've been doing better with water ever since the purchase of this huge water bottle that holds 64 ounces. It's gynormous! My students make fun of me and other teachers ask how I can drink so much water and not move my class to the faculty bathroom:) It is hard at times, but I think my body will eventually get used to it. I want to keep that up. Another goal is to keep up the running. I'd like to be able to run 30 minutes without stopping by the end of May. I don't think that's unreasonable, I may even be able to do it by mid-May. One more goal for this week: try to add some yoga to my routines. I feel myself getting stronger but I also want to become more flexible. I have a video and maybe I'll see if some co-workers have any they'd be willing to let me borrow.

weekly update

This was a disappointing week for me. I didn't meet my goals which stinks but at least I haven't gained any weight. Here are the numbers:

Weight lost to date: 5.5 pounds. Considering that I've been doing this for a month, I was hoping for higher numbers. But my co-workers reassure me that I am probably gaining muscle mass. My favorite pants are really loose so that's encouraging.

Exercise: I didn't meet my goal of 5 times, but I did work out 4 times. A co-worker commented on my arms today:) Now if I could just lose the tummy roll...

Goals for this week: hmmm, this is hard. I still need to work on the water thing. I drink at least 4 cups while at work but I want to increase that. I want to try again for working out 5 times this week. I get paid this week so I'm going to buy a pair of running shoes. I'd like to start adding running to my workouts.

That's it for now. Two of my co-workers are also working really hard at losing weight, one has lost 18 and the other over 20 pounds. It's hard not to compare myself and wish I could lose it faster, but I keep trying to tell myself that it's worth it to lose it slower because it will more than likely stay off that way. In another 2 weeks I'll do some measurements to let you know if I've lost any inches.

munchies

I can not stop eating! Okay, that's not entirely accurate, but I have been craving food all day. It's driving me crazy! I try to focus on something else, but nothing is working. I've given in a couple of times but nothing helps.

The students are taking standardized tests all week so I have been sitting in a room with a bunch of restless kids every morning. There is a room set up especially for teachers with goodies and I stupidly went there this morning. I was so good, at first. There was a fruit tray so I grabbed some grapes and didn't even glance at the donuts (ummm, donuts...). As I was getting the grapes, there was a sign exclaiming, "fresh warm cookies available after 8 am!" My school doesn't just make any ol' cookies, these are Otis Spunkmeyer cookies! My curiousity got the best of me and I walked down around 9 am to check the situation. There were still piles of cookies left so I grabbed a couple, and they were still warm! Oh, it was so terrible!

As if that weren't bad enough, I also munched on a bag of cheddar and sour cream chips. Then, after dinner I was still craving something so I ate some vanilla wafers. Make it stop! I'm still wanting more food! But not just anything, I want junk! I think I've been depriving myself too long and now my body is rebelling.

By the way, don't worry; I am eating plenty of calories, so I'm not starving myself. My body just isn't satisfied with the spinach dinner salad with chicken or the whole wheat turkey sandwich I had for lunch.

weekly update

I'm not sure what to call my weekly updates. Diet update doesn't sound right because I'm not just doing it for a short time, I'm trying to make a lasting change to my eating habits. Exercise update doesn't fully encompass all that I want to include. Health update sounds like I'm ill or suffering from an illness. I'll come up with something more original.

Anyway, this week's update:
Weight loss: none. Yep, big disappointment. I was actually kind of surprised I didn't lose any weight because I was sick all last week and didn't eat much. Oh, well. I also only excercised 3 times so maybe that has something to do with it.

Exercise: 3 times. First time was at the beginning of feeling sick and I didn't do much, just walked on the treadmill and did some weights for about 15 minutes. The last two times I exercised was after I was feeling better. Those were decent workouts with 40 minutes of cardio and 30-40 minutes of weights.

Goals for this week:
1. Drink more water! I have fallen into the teacher trap of not drinking enough because we don't have a lot of opportunities to go to the bathroom, but this isn't good for my system. I want to bring more water bottles and leave them in a co-worker's fridge so they are always cold.
2. Work out 5 times this week.

Goals for the upcoming weeks:
1. Once I get paid at the end of the month, I'm going to invest in a new pair of running shoes so that I can start running again. I don't want to start up on my current pair as they are at least 2 years old.
2. Check out some of the aerobics classes offered at my gym. Who knows? They could actually be fun:)

That's it for now! Hopefully I'll have some lower numbers to report next week...

tests

Remember that really hard oral proficiency test that I had to pass to become fully certified that I told you about, the one that I was certain I failed because I got so upset that I couldn't even finish and left the testing room crying, the one that 85% of non-native Spanish speakers fail the first time they take it, the one that only about 50% of native speakers pass the first time they take it? Well....

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, I actually passed the test! You can not even begin to understand the state of shock I was in this morning when I got the email with my score. I barely passed, but it doesn't matter because I PASSED!!! I will never have to take it again, yippee! God totally gave me grace on this test because there is no way I could have passed it otherwise. The grader must have felt so sorry for me as they listened to me cry my way through the last few questions that I completed; maybe God made them pass me because of it. I don't really care, I'm just excited that I passed!

I need to celebrate, but I have no idea what to do. Any suggestions? Where's some Woodchuck when I need it?!

more pics!

The bridge in the background is hard to make out, but Maracaibo is home to the world's longest concrete bridge. It spans about 5 miles! As I look at the picture, it appears that Maracaibo is very green, but don't be fooled! It is so hot there that grass does not grow naturally. Most yards are made of concrete.

Here are the beautiful, wonderful women in my Bible study while I was in Venezuela. We're standing in front of the VZ flag in my old apartment. Can you figure out which one I am? LOL!!!

This is a painting done by the second lovely lady from the right. She is very talented! It represents several aspects of life in Maracaibo. I proudly display it in my living room.

Easter candy

Every holiday has some kind of candy associated with it, and the candy companies love it. At Christmas you can find Santa shaped Snickers and tree shaped Reeces peanut butter cups. Valentines equals hearts. And of course, the best candy holiday of all, Easter. I think it all started with Easter and the other holidays felt jealous and slighted, so to even it all out, every holiday has candy. But nothing can beat Easter.

Why? you might ask. Because Easter is the only time you can get Cadbury Creme Eggs. These are the best chocolate treat ever. And I love that you can only get them at Easter which makes them extra special.

Easter candy doesn't exactly fit into my new nutritional plan. But, I do reward myself with a little treat on the days I have a few calories left over. Lately it has been with a small portion of Dreyer's Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint ice cream (yum! who could ask for more?! fave cookie with fave dessert, delish!). I just went to Target to see if there was any candy left over and I hit the jackpot! Not only did they have Creme Eggs, but they now have the mini variety, which is perfect for my diet. Just enough to hit the spot. Plus, I feel like you get more for your money because the mini eggs come in a 12 pack so one per day, whereas you can't easily save any uneaten portion of the larger eggs (like there would be any uneaten portion left...).

pics

Everyone has been posting pictures on their blogs so I need to jump on the bandwagon...

This is one of my favorite Maracaibo scenic pictures. This was the view outside my bedroom window; every evening there was a beautiful sunset to see, but because Maracaibo is so close to the equator, it lasted only a few minutes.I don't know why this one is turning out so weird, but here is a picture of one of my dearest Venezuelan friends. I haven't asked her for permission to post this, so I'll leave her name out for now. Check out my blonde hair!

That's it for now. Maybe I'll post more later.

day off

So far, I slept in until 7:30 and have eaten breakfast while watching the Today show. Not too exciting. I'm still feeling yucky, but not as yucky as before so I think I'm getting better. I think I'm going back to bed here in a few minutes.

My church is having a Good Friday service tonight, so I will hopefully feel up to going to that. I better take an ample supply of cough drops so that I don't disrupt the service. I've been struggling with how I should feel this week in light of Easter. Part of me wants to be somber and introspective, really reflecting on what the resurrection of Jesus means to my life. Another part of me is so self-consumed with my own issues that I feel nothing. I am thankful for Jesus and what He sacrificed for me, but I take it so for granted. I need a good dose of perspective; it is not all about me, no matter how much I want it to be.

still sick

I've been sick four days now. It started as a sore throat and cough, and now major congestion has been added to it. I have almost completely lost my voice which my students love. It's interesting to discover which students really like you when you can't raise your voice so they tell people to "shut up, y'all!"

I sat in another teacher's class for a few minutes while she had something to do and in the midst I had a major coughing fit. Her class was horrified. Some thought I was dying, others covered their faces with their shirts to avoid my germs. As I'm hacking my brains out, face turing bright red from lack of oxygen, and trying to hold onto my water bottle to take a sip, all sense of dignity went out the window.

I probably should have stayed home today. At least I have tomorrow off.

weekly exercise update

I have been doing really well going to the gym and eating right, that I am going to include a weekly update in the ol' blog so I can track my progress. Any encouragement that this warrents is well appreciated (hint, hint).

Last week I worked out 4 times, all of those time were pretty hard core workouts. I usually do a mix of 20-30 minutes on the eliptical and 15-20 minutes on the stair master, with some treadmill thrown in to help me cool down. In between the two machines I will do weights for 15 minutes, then after I finish the second round of cardio, I'll do 15 more minutes of weights. Saturday I worked out especially hard and Sunday I walked outside at a moderate pace for 1 hour (it was such a gorgeous day!).

Eating went extremely well, I'm quite proud of myself. I went to a party on Saturday evening and indulged in a chocolate chip cookie (just one) because I had been good all day. Sunday at Bible study someone had made cinnamon rolls and while they were very tempting, I didn't eat one, yay!

Okay, and now for the numbers! So far, I have lost 4 pounds! Yippee! I've only been doing the food bit for 2 weeks, so not bad. I've been working out for almost 4 weeks now and I can actually see muscle definition in my legs and I fit into a pair of jeans last week that I haven't worn in months. Baby steps...now just 20 more pounds to go! I should post pics every couple of weeks so you can see my progess. Now if I can just teach Simba to hold a camera...

broke

What could be more embarrassing than being in Starbucks, paying for your latte and the barista hands your bankcard back and says, "it's been declined"? I didn't even have $3.57 to pay for my stinkin' latte! Thank goodness I had my Target card on me!

I'm horrible with finances. I get paid near the end of the month and it works out well because my bill are all due around the second week of the month of the following month. I pay them all (gotta love online bill pay!) and have a little bit left over for the rest of the month. And when I say a little, I mean VERY little. After I have filled up my car with gas, there's usually nothing left. It's a vicious cycle. I bought a skirt last month that I still haven't taken the tags off; I think I'll take it back to Kohl's and get my $20 back so I can have some grocery money...

Those of you that think teaching is a noble profession, would you mind writing to the Texas state government and beg for a pay raise? This is ridiculous!

sick, again!

My throat started hurting Saturday and then a cough developed yesterday. Now I feel all achy. Ick! Nothing's even going around right now! I have lost count of how many times I have been sick this year. At least I have Friday off so I can just sleep, although calling in sick tomorrow is very tempting. If I actually had everything ready for a sub, I think I would do it...

tgif

It is finally the weekend. Actually, the week flew by, but I am so exhausted that I could not have gone another day. I have big plans to sleep in tomorrow, work out, and then go to a party/get together that the single's ministry at the church I'm going to is having. Did I mention that before? I finally found a church I like. It's a long drive, but worth it.

My department head gave me some cool news today, but I can't post it because I'm not sure if my co-workers read my blog and it isn't really public yet. If you are interested in finding out what it is, email me and I'll fill you in.

Let's see, what else to blog about? My kids were a little nutso today. Spring fever is in full force. They weren't really misbehaving, they just could not stop talking for 2 seconds so I could explain their assignments. I had my Spanish II classes today and I really like them. The kids are funny and like me, even if they find my class completely boring and worthless. Not that I'm a teacher to be popular, and I do wish more of them liked Spanish. But at least if they like me, they are more willing to do their homework. One student in a level I class is pretty much failing every other class but she has an A in mine. She also told me once that if she had a problem with me, she would let me know, so I'm thinking she must like me since she has never given me too much attitude (and boy, is she capable of attitude!). Maybe, just maybe, I'm making a small difference in their lives.

Okay, enough ramblings for one post...

disappointing

I'm disappointed with so much, but mostly with my life. Why hasn't anything gone as I have wanted? It's like the prize dangles in front of me and just when I go to grab it, it is snatched away. Maybe my expectations are too high. I feel like they get lower and lower the longer I live. I don't want to bring anyone down with this post, these are just thoughts I have been processing over the last several weeks. Do you ever feel like you could fade away until you are completely invisible?

On a lighter note, only 7 more weeks of school. I've been thinking about what to do over the summer. Going home to Va ranks highest on the list. I really need to get a job though. Yep, I'm going to be one of those teachers that works during the summer. I could use the extra cash, that is for sure. I would also like to go to Orlando to visit some friends, but we'll see if it will work out. I think I will just sleep the first week of vacation because I am exhausted! In other news, I have started going to the gym regularly again and really watching what I eat. I almost don't want to say that because I don't want to jinx it, but it's fun to see some muscle definition and I have lost 2 pounds. I know, nothing to write home about, but I'm happy to see a little come off. If I could get back to my college weight, that would be amazing! I'll keep you updated...

I am not a priority.

MIA

Sorry I haven't been around this week. It's been a hard and stressful one, and I'd like to fill you in on what has happened, but I just don't have the strength or the will to even try. I am completely exhausted...

song

A while ago, Kel posted a song that's lyrics were meaningful to her. At the time, I couldn't think of any that really moved me. Well, I just had one of the hardest weeks since I've been here in Dallas and as I have sat here listening to U2, the lyrics to "I Still Haven't Found..." struck me. Here they are:

I have climbed highest mountain

I have run through the fields

Only to be with you

Only to be with you

I have run

I have crawled

I have scaled these city walls

These city walls

Only to be with you

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

I have kissed honey lips

Felt the healing in her fingertips

It burned like fire

This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels

I have held the hand of a devil

It was warm in the night

I was cold as a stone

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

I believe in the kingdom come

Then all the colors will bleed into one

Bleed into one

Well yes I’m still running

You broke the bonds and you

Loosed the chains

Carried the cross

Of my shame

Of my shame

You know I believed it

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for...

why me?

*warning: do not read this if you are currently, or have just finished, eating!*

Today I took the day off so that I could go to a 2 day mini-conference at the seminary I want to attend. It's an opportunity for prospective students to check out the school and see if it is where God is leading them. I was so excited to go and have the chance to have my vision renewed for what I want to do with my life.

The day was going great. I got to attend a counseling class and even ran into someone I joined staff with back in 2001 (small world!). Chapel was amazing and I felt reassured that this is where God wants me in the future. It was lunch time so I headed to the room where all those interested in Biblical Counseling would be eating. There were several professors from the department and a time of question/answers. The food was served, chicken with cream sauce and delicious steamed vegetables.

I don't know if you know this about me, but sometimes I have problems eating. The food gets caught in my esophagus and I end up throwing up. Don't worry, I talked to the doctor years ago about this and he said that since it doesn't happen that often (the last time was several months ago), I shouldn't worry about it. I can always tell when it's about to happen because I get this terrible burning sensation in my chest and I can feel the saliva just collecting in my esophagus. As one of the professors was talking about the program, I got up to go to the bathroom. Most of the time when I get this sensation, I just have to wait it out and it eventually goes away when the food finally goes down into my stomach. This time it did not.

I was in the bathroom for about 20 minutes, going between gagging and throwing up a little. Finally I decided I just needed to go home because the feeling would not go away. I went back to the room, grabbed my stuff, and walked out to my car, completely frustrated that I had to leave early when there was still so much left to do. As I got to my car, an unexpected gag came on me and I dry heaved by my car. "I have got to get home!" I thought and quickly got in the car. As I closed the door, another gag came on except this time, it was not a dry heave. I threw up on the floor of my car. I left the seminary and as I'm getting ready to get onto the interstate, I grabbed the trash bag I keep and threw up again, while I was driving! I'm glad it wasn't rush hour! I set the bag aside and then threw up again, but this time all over me! I don't want you to think that each time I was barfing it was a huge amount; it wasn't, and it was mainly clear, thank goodness! But after I threw up all over myself, I was super annoyed! My thinking had been if I felt better as I drove home, I would turn around and go back. But this could not be the case now.

I finally started feeling better as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartmenbt complex. Figures...