Fingers Crossed for a Better Year

I finally got back into the school today! It's been so weird hearing about some teachers being back in school for a week and we haven't even been allowed in our classrooms. The main thing I did was empty out all of my boxes. None of my worst fears were confirmed. (that my boxes would all be mysteriously empty or that everything would be water damaged) In fact, there was more in those boxes than I remembered! Each box not only held my supplies but also my excitement. I wasn't expecting to find all my stickers or other small things like that but they were all there!...I think. I got my class list. There were a lot of familiar names from summer school, which could be good, because they're already kind of used to me, but I dno that could also be a bad thing. They might not be scared enough of me. When I got home (around 6:15) Matt wanted to go to Best Buy to get a flat screen TV and I wasn't complaining. Currently, we are watching XMen 3 in HD! I wasn't able to sleep last night until about 2 in the morning so I'm drained now. Back for more fun tomorrow!

I Want to Ride My Bicycle. I Want to Ride My Bike.

Today Matt and I rode 35 miles on our bikes. We left at about 10am. We were thinking of signing up for an official bike race, but then we decided to save the money and just ride the distance on our own.

We were going nice and slow at first. There were some pretty steep hills and lots of cars to worry about, but there were no big problems. It was cool that even when there didn't seem to be a path for a bike we found a way. We have friends who biked all the way from IL to Oregon, and I have even more respect for what they did than before and I already thought it was insane and amazing before. The worst part was the overpasses. You had to ride up a steep hill everytime and there were never sidewalks or anything, just narrow road. So you're working really hard to get up the overpass and you don't even want to be on it in the first place, but it's the only way.

At about noon we realized we were starving and went slightly out of the way to McDonalds. Real healthy I know, but we just needed calories really bad. We had nothing left. We also got Gatorade at the attached gas station. When we got back on our bikes we were still sore and tired, but we felt a lot better. My right knee really hurt from about then until the end of the trip, but we just kept pedaling. Eventually, my neck, back, and butt also really hurt. My knee was the worst though. When we were about through I realized I could make my other leg do most of the work and I really tired my other leg out while my right leg just felt like a mutilated stump with some skin flaps attached being tossed around in a circle as I pedaled. Then on top of all that I realized that my skin was frying in the heat. I rarely ever see my burn until hours later after being inside, but I could see very visibly red skin on my arms and legs and when I lifted up my sleeves and shorts legs I could see a dreaded farmer tan. Boo! So we decided we had to stop at Matt's parents' house even though they were only 4 miles away from our house. At first I was being really stubborn and saying we weren't going to stop until we got to our house, but I caved when I noticed my red skin. We stopped there and drank some ice water and I laid down across 3 dining room chairs because I didn't want to get their couch or chairs sweaty. Matt wanted to have his mom drive us home, and I wanted to finish what we started. Luckily she wasn't there. So that was the end of that. We rode the rest of the way and made it home by 3:15 in time for the Cardinal game. (Boo, they lost.)

So here I sit typing about the day still emitting heat, and I've been putting on aloe pretty much nonstop. I'm surprisingly not that sore, but we'll see about tomorrow. As for the sunburn, I would have used suntan lotion, but I haven't gotten much sun all summer and I told myself I wanted some color. Well, I got it! Bright red. Farmer tan style. Oh, but on my legs the burn only goes down to the middle of my knee, so that looks weird. The only way to cover it up besides pants would be knee socks I guess, but who wears those? I think I really learned my lesson this time. I know I always say that, but this time I...ya I probably didn't.

Fruit Pizza

Fruit Pizza

I made this for Thursday night church at our house. Everyone seemed to like it, but of course, I didn't eat any.

Wordless Wednesday

My Nightmare and My Petsmart Nightmare

I had my first school nightmare of the school year. It was the first day and I realized I wasn't wearing any make up! (This is my equivalent of being naked.) What's more, I didn't have anything ready. I didn't know what I wanted them to do and I didn't have any supplies or copies of anything. The kids were just about to eat me alive when I woke up.

The first thing I did today was take Izzy to Petsmart. Huge mistake. The whole time she was pulling to get away from me barking quite loudly at times. The workers all seemed to be annoyed and I got a glimpse of having a screaming baby. Not excited for that. This wasn't even the worst part. I was trying to put her new collar and harness on her with the door open because it was hot and she got loose. She ran around the parking lot and some good samaritans tried to help me track her down, but she didn't come to anyone. She ran right back into Petsmart and ran around in the store. The workers seemed really annoyed by that and I was so embarrassed to the max. I grabbed her and didn't yell till we got into the car which probably didn't do a thing for my devil dog. On the way to the store I was extra careful driving with Izzy because she's so small and she gets knocked around easily. On the way home I gave her a few extra violent starts and stops. When we got home I took her on an extra long run with the bike and she passed out for about an hour. I'm still kind of mad. At least no one will ask if she's a girl or boy anymore because she has a pink collar with bling and a pink harness.

What I Love About Sundays

Waking up for church was hard this morning. There weren't a lot of ppl there. In fact, there were so few people there that they had ME be one of the communion ushers. I'm not sure why but that just seems like a desperate move to me. I did look good though. I was wearing a colorful print dress and a cute brown shrug that I searched all over town for. After church Beebs and I went to Olive Garden with Paul and Audrey. We only got soup, salad, and breadsticks because we were trying to save money, not go too crazy on the calories, and Beebs was craving the salad. I tried to be really careful not to stuff myself and today is the first day I regret not eating more. I love Olive Garden.

After lunch we went home and watched the Cubs get killed by the Reds which was enjoyable and yet predictable. Then I took Izzy for a walk, well I rode my bike and she ran. She got tired really fast and I didn't at all so we're gonna do that every day.

For dinner we made tacos. Unfortunately when I bought supplies I didn't read the seasoning and only bought half the amount we needed so part way thru making it I had to make a run to the store. It's ok tho cuz I also made some good discoveries: 2 kinds of really good chips and Chef Boyardee Whole Wheat Lasagna. After a very filling dinner we watched the Departed. The whole time I kept trying to imagine I was Kristin and I tried to imagine Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as the same person and how I could rationalize that. I couldn't so good job! I really did like the movie. It was hard for me to keep up with what was going on, but Beebs had already seen it so he helped me as little as possible so as not to give anything away. Izzy watched the whole thing with us. We tried to keep her next to us on a cushion but she's so pushy. She ended up on top of us for the most part. That's my girl.

Back to the Dub

Today was really eventful. I finally went to the DMV to change my name on my license after having like the millionth confrontation at a store over my license not having the same name as my checks/credit cards. If you want to read my rants about the Wal-Mart lady giving me a hard time or the DMV ppl giving me a hard time you can read about it in another blog I made where I just rant. I mostly just made it because I liked the blog template. http://katesaysalotaboutnothing.blogspot.com/

I got in my 5 mile run on the treadmill. Woo! It was hard and I tripped once. Haha, but I didn't fall. I caught myself.

Then Beebs and I went to Washington to see A and her new boyfriend. We went to Khory's first to eat. Of course, the food was really yummy! Then to St. Pat's to see A's new classroom. We helped her set some stuff up and I showed Beebs around good ole STP. Then to the Ice Cream Shack!! I got a puppy chow wizard (I've been thinking about getting one all summer!!) and Beebs got a scotch a roo one which was really butterscotchy. It was a lot of fun seeing A. I can't believe that was the first and probably last time I'll see her this summer! And both Beebs and I really liked her boyfriend. I think we're all the same kind of funny which always helps. Too bad he lives in Bloomington and A works in Washington and too bad school starts soon! AH!

Shalom Sholem!

Beebs went to Sholem (our public pool) with me cuz he's the best husband ever. He REALLY didn't want to go because it's the public pool and he thought it was going to be really crowded with screaming kids. I was kind of afraid of that too, but I really wanted to get some sun and possibly swim a few laps for exercise. I got to swim my laps and I did get tired out. I almost fell asleep on the lazy river except that the lazy river at Sholem is so much worse than the one at Splashdown. They let the kids keep their feet out and run around and play, a water slide feeds into it, and there's a part where water directly splashes you. What the heck? Not that relaxing. The little kids weren't that annoying. What WAS annoying was this group of teenagers sitting behind us while we were laying out. They were going on and on about how one liked this guy but he's such a player and no one knows him like she does and her friends were like maybe you can be the one to change him. He's so mysterious and blah blah blah and I wanted to be like, Shut up! I'm trying to relax here! He's obviously not that into you or else you would know. You wouldn't be sitting around here trying to figure it out. Haven't you seen the movie? Go see it right now or better yet, read the book, and leave me alone!

It's Somethin' Unpredictable, but in the End is Right

So, I was cleaning out our office and I found an old journal of mine from last year. (First year of teaching) I'm really sad I didn't stick with it because I'm sure it would have been hilarious. Here's an excerpt from pretty much the only thing I said about school.

November 18, 2009

"Well 1st year teaching is no longer killing me. Do I absolutely LOVE it? No. Do I wake up each morning full of excitement that that's what I get to do every day? Definitely not. Do I just want to give up and take my own life and hope that somehow that is pardonable? Not anymore! Baby steps."

I thought I'd share that since not much is going on in my actual life right now. No trips or anything at least.

I have been starting to think a lot about school and I think it's kind of stressing me out, but I am hoping for much improvement on my part or at least a little from experiencing the horrors of my first year. I think out of fear I'm just trying to think of any and every little thing possible I can prepare. Now I'm starting to think I should have been doing this all summer. I even started a blog about teaching stuff generally and my classroom specifically. If you look on my profile it's my other blog listed. I hope to keep up with that once school starts and journal about each day giving the kids code names or something, and of course not posting their pictures. I can do that right?

I gotta get my sleep pattern fixed before school starts! Off to bed!