I dunno

I have no title for today. I have a mere, tiny update, which could turn into a giant rant if I'm not careful. For one, I can't stop eating. I'm craving everything, and secondly, I'm not pregnant, because TOM is visiting. I usually don't get this bad when I have the visitor, but I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut. I'm especially craving peanut butter, peanut butter cups, Terra veggie chips. I don't know what the issue is, but I hope it goes away fairly soon.

Other than that, I'm drowning in work. I should be making a power point about reading, but I left the book I need at work, and it's Saturday so there is no way I'm getting into my building. I think I'll just go to work early on Monday so I can get it started before work, and maybe finish it during lunch. I like using power point, so it's not as if I'm going to be angry about doing it.

Now I'm going to be off to read other people's blogs. I hope to be inspired.

The professor and Mary Anne....

Okay, all of you who read this may now refer to me as "Professor". I taught the first session of my graduate class last night and I had fun. I think my students were happy, too. It's a course about secondary literacy and literature. It's chocked full of science and math teachers who have to take a course on literacy. It'll be fine. I have a ton of strategies to teach that can be applied to text book reading and content area class (ie science, social studies, and math). There are 19 adults in my class, and I have to say, it's weird the way they looked at me...like I know everything. Strange, but we worked past it.

In other areas of life:

• My neck is killing me. I think it's from the stress of doing the first day of the course. It started to hurt when I got into my car after class. It feels horrible, but is easily managed with ibuprofen.
• Eating is crap. I just can't get focused. I think I'm going to to have to make myself something extra special for dinner tonight, like Rachel Ray's Mexican Meat-za, but make it Core. I think that's a plan and a half.
• It's a quiet week here at school because it's Regents week. For those of you who don't live in NY, Regents are a bunch of heinous content knowledge exams put out by the state that are actually fairly difficult. If you're a special education kid, like most of mine, and you don't pass them, you have to take the Regents Competency Test (RCTs) which are so easy it's almost sinful.

That's all I've got for now. Maybe I'll be back later if something crazy happens here...you never know with Regents week...high stress and emotional disturbance make funny bedfellows.

Not so bad

Despite my being a Pouty McPouterson yesterday, I had a gain of .6. I perhaps could have even avoided that if I hadn't had a Mike's Hard Lemonade and quiche freak-out at about 8pm. Less stuff in the tummy means less weigh on the scale, right? Oh well, it's over and that's the important part, right?

This is my second Sunday where I didn't have to work at the library, and I've got to tell you, I could get used to this schedule of having nothing to do. I actually have time to do the dished and relax...on the same day. It's stunning. I don't think I'm ready to give up my library job...I've worked there forever...I'm going to wait until I at least hit 20 years (This September, if you can believe it) or when I have a baby. I'm thinking that I'll need more time if I have a baby..wouldn't you think so? But I digress, yet again.

So, tomorrow night is my first night as an adjunct professor in a graduate level course. I'm a tad nervous, but I"m feeling ready. I've got my plans all laid out for the 2 hour course, including an article to start with, group reading activities, and time for me to introduce myself and the goals of the course. If I have to let them out a few minutes early, then so be it. I don't think I'll have the time to do that because I have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve . I'll be back tomorrow to let y'all know how it all went.

A Big, Fat Pout

I'm not a happy weight watcher today. I worked the core all week and I think I gained weight. Yeah, I know that I lost a big number last week because I hadn't eaten anything and so my body had to "bounce back" in a sense. I just don't like it. So there.

I'll be back tomorrow, my big pouty lip is getting in the way of typing. Humph.

Snow, finally!

It finally snowed here. Not enough for a snow day or even a school delay, but I don't care. I just love the snow! The down side is that many of the students who go to my school elected to stay home, which makes for a boring day. I'm sure things will get interesting around here, because they always, always do. It's just that with out the students, things can be dull. Yeah, I like my career choice.

I'm still doing well with food. I think that the fact that I was sick all last week is going to have an effect on my weight loss, if any, this week. I think my body was trying to make up for lost calories because I was basically starving myself last week...I had no appetite because of the respiratory infection I had. I'm pretty sure I'll at least maintain. The big hurdle is that Chris wants to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. I'm going to want at least one margarita. They are 7 points each. That's a stiff drink. I have the flexies for it, and I guess I could eat really clean tomorrow. Plus, I could get black bean soup for dinner (core) and make polenta chips (core) to bring with me to eat instead of the tortilla chips. I'm not worried about the food at all, it's the frozen margaritas. I'm going to have to volunteer to be designated because I'll definitely stop at one. I suppose it'll have to work.

I'm secretly hoping that I do lose weight this week and that I get under 170 so I'll be that much closer to completely Phase 1 of the Next 10 Challenge. I'm psyched!

I think I'm good for now, no more beans to spill at the moment. All is well.

Time for some calm

I finally typed out my grad class calendar. I am quite happy. I still have to add some things and perhaps rearrange some assignments, but the skeleton is there and that is what matters the most. Phew. As a reward I allowed myself some World of Warcraft...WOOT!

I'm still on track with Core, and I'm tracking everything so I can be a good role model for my Weight Watchers meeting, but it's getting super tough. This is where things start to fall apart for me....I start to get frustrated because I'm weighing a little heavy (it's all fiber, baby) and the eating disorder in my head starts to say "screw it, eat something tasty", while the side with WW wings, say "No, it's only fiber and water... you'll weigh even less once this passes". Usually the horned eating disorder wins out. Oh, did I ever mention that I treat my WW meetings as if they were an eating disorder support group. I don't think I have bulimia or anorexia, or even body dismorphia. I just know that changing eating habits couldn't be this difficult for people without some form of an eating disorder. It could be a stress related eating disorder. Who knows?

Well, this post flew off into a tangent, didn't it? Weird. See ya'll later. I'm going to go gaze at the snow! It's finally snowing, there isn't going to be a lot, but there is finally glorious snow here in my part of NY!

Gotta make it quick

I am beat and I feel like I've been working non-stop today. Including reading things while I'm eating. All that said, I'm going to make this quick....

Update:

• My core week is going well. I've logged everything in the community tracker and it's looking good so far.
• This is TMI (in other words: Don't read any further if you're sensitive), but I've become fascinated by how my poo has changed since I stopped fudging core so much.
• I'm drowning in work. I can't even let myself play Warcraft, and I got the expansion pack in the mail yesterday...I'm dying to play it but I feel I haven't "earned" it yet. Damn sense of responsibility...
• The library is still closed because the movers are still dealing with the hundreds of thousands of materials we have. I'm happy because I get paid for not working and I have time to get other stuff done...like grad class calendars.
• The grad course I'm teaching starts on Monday and I still haven't finished typing my calendar. I keep making changes to it. It's making me nutso!

Okay, I think it might be time for me to get off my rear and slide into bed to watch TV through my eyelids. Sweet dreams everyone!

Busy, busy, busy

I think I might be drowning in work. I met with a coworker today so we could get some work done for our National Board certification because we can't seem to get any work done on our own at home, so we are being each other's mini support team. Man, are we feeling the heat. I've got so much to do and it's all due at the end of March. I have a list a mile long that's all preliminary work! Ugh! And, I'm starting as a grad school professor next Monday and I'm not quite done with my calendar. Eeep!

Weight Watchers-wise, I'm going well. I lost a little more than 3 pounds, taking me down to 171 even. So, I'm happy. Plus, I got to take the community journal home again so I model a core week.

I think that's all I've got in me for the moment, and I've got a ton of things to do, and I've got the day off, so I might as well get it all done, right?

Almost Core Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP flour (1 point)
1 block soy cheese ( I like Soya Kaas Mexi-kaas the best)
2 cups skim milk
1tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 pound dry whole wheat pasta (penne, shells, or macaroni is best)
1/2 C whole wheat bread panko bread crumbs (2 points, optional)

Cook whole wheat pasta according to instructions. When cooked, place in an oven safe casserole dish.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the milk in a microwave safe container and heat for 45 seconds. In a pot heat up olive oil. Once the olive oil is warm, add the flour to create a roux. Slowly add the warmed milk to the roux, whisking to create a bechamel sauce. Once all the milk is added and blended well, start grating the soy cheese in. Grate in about a quarter then stir slowly so it melts. Repeat this step until all the soy cheese is melted in. Add the cayenne pepper. The "cheese" sauce should be thick by this time. Turn off the heat, and pour the sauce over the whole wheat pasta, stirring to combine. Pour the bread crumbs over the top, making sure there is an even coating. Spray the top with a little canola oil (Pam will do fine). Bake for about 20 minutes until bubbly along the sides.

Lung Revolt, or is it Revolting Lung a better title....

Hello folks, sorry I've been away for so long. I'm currently on antibiotics for a respiratory infection that knocked me cold for a whole bunch of days. I stayed home from work for 3 days and I basically slept, drank tons of fluids, watched crafty shows on the Home and Garden Network and ate Jello. So much for taking home my Weight Watcher group's tracker this week. I'll have to try again another week.

I did have a chance to make my Almost Core Mac and Cheese. The entire thing has 3 points of non core items in it. We're talking the whole blasted thing! I'm not sure if this pic is appealing or not, but I'm enjoying it.

So other than being sick, not much is going on. At work my supervisor's supervisor asked me to make an appointment so we can talk about how the reading program is going at my school. there is no panic here because he's an awesome guy and he doesn't mince words. If he had a problem with something I did, he would have told me on the spot when I saw him on Friday. I do believe that he's going to ask me some loaded questions about the new principal and my crazy co-worker. I just have to be honest while maintaining my professionalism. I see him on Wednesday.

I guess that's that for now. I'm sure now that I'm feeling better, I'll be back tomorrow with more excitement. Or at least a weigh in update.

Flying Fig-itis

I have been suffering from a horrible disease: Flying Fig-itis...it's the one where you could give a crap about following your chosen eating plan. It resulted in my eating mac and cheese (the regular kind) and drinking beer the night before my weigh in. Did I care...nope, I didn't give a flying fig. In fact, Chris asked me how many points the mac and cheese was, and I answered, "Frankly, I don't give a sh*t" and then I laughed. Yeah, not so funny when it comes to my waist line.

I am feeling better today. I went to my WW meeting, I had fun. I saw my friend Erin, who recently moved about 40 minutes away. I volunteered to take the community Quick Track 12 week food diary. I'm feeling obligated to do a great job and lose a ton of weight to show people that core isn't as evil or as hard as they think it is. Gotta be a good core role model.

After WW, I went to the store and bought some fresh fruit and some low point/high fiber English muffins and burger rolls (one point each!) I'm feeling pretty good. I know I'll have to go to the health food store sometime this week so that I can get stuff to make Almost Core Mac and Cheese, which is a great thing to bring to work for lunch.

So, as you can see, I'm still in the midst of Phase 1 of my Next 10 Challenge....but if it weren't a struggle, then it wouldn't be a "challenge", would it?

Not much to say

I started a post yesterday, but realized that I don't have much to say. I've got piles and piles of stuff to do...and it's not even started yet. I have dishes to wash, but I don't care to wash them. I can't get myself back completely on Core, but I'm making strides in the right direction. I'll get it all back under my belt soon enough...it's just going to take more time than I had hoped. I think I'm feeling overwhelmed between work (with Nutso, which makes a not terribly stressful job quite stressful), mentor meetings, tutoring, the library, the graduate class I'm going to be teaching starting in 2 weeks, and National Board Certification portfolio due in March, I'm starting to feel the pressure.

I guess I should out some hours into something today, huh?

Painting a Chair

It's the new year, already?

What gives?

Things are going fine here in Alanna-land. I've discovered that I can't just throw myself on the bike trainer and expect to knock out a 30 minute ride. I am out of shape. Unbelievably out of shape. To remedy this, I'm going to start tri training again (so this blog will be aptly names on some days) and my friend and long distance training partner, Amazon Hil, and I will be training for a half marathon together. Granted, she lives more than 2 hours away, but we'll be keeping each other up to day on my other blog Amazon Strength. So all is well in the work out planning world. I bought a new training diary that has space for more than biking, running, and swimming. It has areas for notes, strength training, and meditation-related exercise (yoga, pilates). It's more user friendly than my old tri training log, which was monotinous...bike, run, swim, bike run, swim....God forbid you did something out of the bos like hiking, rock climbing, or yoga. Yikes!

And the food front, so far, so good. Thank goodness ham is a core food, but I don't think a third of a pound of ham is actually that good for me, but that's what I had as part of my dinner. God, I love ham. ("That's f-in' good ham, Mom"...followed up of course by a good old, "The ocean Bob? Bobby, you don't know anyone in the ocean." I think I'm done with my Kids in the Hall moment.....