This is Halloween, This is Halloween

In this town we call home everyone hail to the Pumpkin Throne!

I love love love Halloween.

And so does Reuben!

Doors in the Men

Yay for Pumkin ice cream! I didn 't occur to me that Edy's would have a season ice cream for Thanskgiving...but hello, I read all about it on Sarah's blog Living to Feel Good. No less than 10 minutes after reading about it, Chris and I were in the car on the way to the store to search for some. We found 1 container left, encased in ice and it's been downhill ever since...but downhill in the most tasty way.

I also saw another World of Warcraft reference on TV today. I was (regrettably) listening to America's Most Smartest Model while I was using my sewing machine (Listen...I need brainless background noise when I use the machine). On it they set up teams of 2 models to do fake sunscreen ads...then at the last minute, they threw each team one "nerd" who has done nothing but "play World of Warcraft for the last 4 (?) months". They were pasty beings. I'm not sure how I feel about being a "nerd"...I prefer "gamer geek".

I can't wait until Sunday when I can reveal what I've been working on. It's for a friend of mine, and I'll be giving it to her on Sunday. I will be sure to take picture of the mystery item. I can't wait! Actually, I can't wait to finish it so I can make some evil sock monkeys for fun...and possible profit. I'm considering putting some on Etsy. I'll have to see how that works out, but that's to be discussed on another day.

On an exercise note: Today was back and biceps at the gym, and tomorrow will be a nice run...I have to do that after my reading team members and I interview another candidate. Should be interesting.

Paranoid

I think someone is out to get me- it smells like hot dogs and kraut in my office. The student cafe is below my office and I think the dean is making them a "special" lunch today. My God...it smells awesome. I must focus on the Reading Department lunch that I'm leaving for in 40 minutes....although, hot dogs are my fav....

I must control my hot dog lust! (ooooh, that come out dirty....sorry!)

Update of the Future

Future...future...future.

Meh, I'm bored. I feel as if I have a million things to talk about and no words in which to express them. I'm not feeling creative at all...completely unmotivated, but I've got this underlying feeling that I have to post...about what? I'm not sure. I'm just blah.

We're currently interviewing for a new reading specialist. And by we, I mean, the reading department interviews candidates and gets to pick who moves on to interview with the supervisors. How awesome is that? We lost 2 at the end of last year; one to retirement, the other to be an at home mom to her 4 active kids....The first interview went kind of, uh, beige. The woman was nice, but didn't seem terrible enthusiastic to work with our team. It didn't help that Looney answered all the questions before the interviewee had a chance. The rest of us can't figure that out...Looney already works there, we're not testing her. Candidate number two was awesome. She is lively, well spoken, passionate about working with kids, and knowledgeable about current literacy theories. We liked this candidate so much we called and left a message with our supervisor to hurry up and set up a second interview. It also helped that Looney didn't sit for this interview. Nor can she sit for the next 3...so we might get some more decent candidates that will actually get a chance to talk.

In other new, my ears are feeling better. It's all allergy build-up for me. I bought Mucinex nasal spray and that helped a ton. Made my nose run like mad, but that was the point. I was congested and I needed my sinuses to clear out in a big way. The way people clear out a room when a dog toots...that bad.

In other news...I'm tired. It's Thursday night and I'm at the library. I came here directly after work where I worked an extra hour and 45 minutes due to the interview. I am exhausted. Woo!

I almost forgot....one of the students on this campus was being fresh, so another student told him to stop or I would pick him up and throw him...."cuz Alanna's mad strong and she doesn't take any garbage"...I love that my students think I'm really strong, and that I don't take garbage. Fab-u-lous.

I think tomorrow is going to be a gym day for me, and a run day on Saturday. Or if it's nice enough tomorrow I might opt for a short run and then a trip to the gym with a long run on Saturday. That would work out nicely.

Wow...I know that I just post random stuff, but I think this post takes the cake!

Sound effects sold separately

Today was a tiring day. I woke up tired, dreaming that I called in sick. I got through the work day and then after dropping baby brother (Ian) at the gym, I went running. After running I went back to the gym to do back and biceps. Now I'm exhausted and drinking a glass of red wine, which is making me melt into my couch.

Cheers everyone!

World of Warcraft is taking over!

I can not believe that I just saw a World of Warcraft reference on How I Met Your Mother. How awesome is that? Makes me want to "suit up"...in plate for level 46 of course. Earlier this month it was reference on The Big Bang Theory. And who could forget South Park's "Make Love Not Warcraft" episode? Not me!

I'm NOT fat...that's my money belt

I'm still loving the suject-o-matique!

I am so incredibly happy...I was part of a multi-family tag sale today and I sold the ugly man-chair! The man-chair was a beige recliner that Chris got for free when he was working as a mover right out of college. It was a very comfortable chair, just bulky and ugly. I got $20 for it...Chris got 6 or 7 good years out of it (for free no less) and we made $20. Nice.

My ear has been bothering me as of late. It's just a tad achy, not painful, just achy. I've been trying to do something with my congestion, but it's slow going. Plus, now I'm achy from helping Chris carry the recliner down the stairs in our 2nd floor appointment and wiggle it into my car. It's worth it considering I don't have to look at that thing anymore.

Tomorrow I have to work at the library, plus stop by the day two of the tag sale...I think I only have about 5 things left to sell. I'd like to get that massage that I promised myself and I'd like to go for a run. Pretty big day for a Sunday!

Early bird gets the worm. But what about the early worm?

I still love the suject-o-matique on Yahoo. It's all good fun.

Tonight was my WW meeting. Lost 2 pounds this week, which I attribute to running and almost follwing plan. By almost I mean that I followed plan but for dinner on Friday and Sunday nights, I didn't. I figure I ate all (if not more) of my flexies on those nights. Any extranious points used during the weekdays were APs. I don't know if that'll work for me this upcoming WW week, but we'll see.

I think I'm going to treat myself to a massage this weekend. I haven't had one in a while and I think that I deserve one...between the actually running a bunch of times and I'm a little sore. Friday is payday, and I think I can scrape the money together.

Despite running and getting to the gym (did I mention that? I don't think so) I have been having trouble sleeping. Chris, my evil husband, thinks it's entertaining to make noise so that I freak out while half asleep. He doesn't do this often, but did it to me the other night. In my half asleep stupor, I think I threatened to kill everyone in the world. I am not a night person. So, as a result, let me apologize for threatening to kill you all. Sorry about that, I was half asleep. I'm hoping to get in a solid 7-8 hours tonight.

Also, the stereo in my Subaru decided to stay on forever. I can't turn the channel, I can't control the volume, it won't take CDs. Even when I turn off the car, the digital screen stays on. Subaru is going to replace the whole thing, but in the mean time I have to listen to 1010 Wins at a medium volume.

For Chai Girl, The Cure addict

Chai Girl is a complete Cure addict...they are all over her blog recently. So I found my fav to share!

Time-off for good behavior

I wish! My principal did tell me today that 1) I did more work in September and October than some teachers do all year 2) That if he could give me bonus pay or time off, he would 3) That he's not going to worry about anything I do this year because obviously I'm very devoted to getting things done and am willing to pitch in more than my fair share of work. Yay for me!

I am dead beat tired. I did not sleep well last night. I woke up every 40 minutes or so. Lots of tossing and turning. Despite being tired after work, I went for a 35 minute run. It was a good run. A nice run. I am exhausted now. I was perusing blogs this evening and I was dozing off while reading them. I am hoping for a better night of sleep tonight or I will be fried tomorrow morning, and I have a ton of things to do at work including team teaching US History!

Not much else is going on. Reuben is fine, although they are upping his doggie anxiety meds because his separation anxiety has gotten worse recently...including all his OCD behaviors. The Vet and I agreed that feeling anxious all day can not feel good...so his meds are upped a tad, and broken into 2 smaller doses rather than one large dose. The vet is confident that it will ease the anxiety but won't affect his personality or his energy level. We love Reuben's exuberance, but we don't like it when he turns and scratches for 2 minutes before he can lie down.

Save some funk for Sunday

I love Yahoo's subject-o-matique. It's a title lifesaver for me at times.

So, whooo, I haven't been here in nearly a week! I haven't exactly had blogger time this past week. The English teacher at my school was out until Friday afternoon, so either I was teaching English (I have the license, so I might as well pitch in) or helping the sub by giving her the class plans, removing disruptive kids, teaching the harder classes for her (there's no teacher aid to help out). Plus, I was doing my own job as best I could. I was keeping appointments with my scheduled reading students, plus, I was asked to write an unofficial reading report at the last minute. Yikes! It all got done...the district was happy with the reading information, determined they wanted him to get one to one reading and they are now paying my school extra for reading services. The kid is happy, the district is happy, and my school's billing office is happy.

I also re-entered my gym a couple of times this past week and I went running twice. I am a maniac....actually, that 's not true. I decided to stop worrying about nonsense and I decided to start training for the Webster Lake Danskin Tri that is held in July. I haven't done it in 2 years, and I figure if I focus on training for that I'll a) have time to sort things out mentally as I run...and that's when I do some really great thinking and b)I'll fall asleep quicker at night and won't have time to worry about useless things. It seems to be working.

So, between being tired from work, and then hitting the gym or trail, I have been too exhausted to do anything!

Woah

Hey all! Things have been a little nuts 'round these parts. Good nutty. Happy nutty....good times but eating too much nutty.

First off, I met my college roomie for lunch on Saturday. I haven't seen her in about 10 years. It was strange in that recently I was googling her trying to figure out how to reach her. All my leads led to dead ends. After my last lead fell through...guess who I get a phone call from? You guessed it....ROOMIE! It was decided that we have to do a better job of staying in touch because we have too much fun together.

Another cool thing is that I have a 3 day weekend...I was supposed to work at the library, but it closed unexpectedly because of a heating/air conditioning malfunction. So I literally had a 3 day weekend. Very rare for me during the school year. And better yet...I get paid anyway.

On the weird side, I'm not feeling like myself...it's an on and off thing and I don't like it. I'll go from feeling fine to feeling like I've forgotten about something important...almost a paranoid feeling. I've also been getting a little pissy at times. I think it's my hormones trying to re-regulate themselves (I recently stopped an optional medication ladies use for preventing the development of smaller replicas of themselves and their partners, if you catch my drift). I don't remember being like this before, and I was forewarned. I just need to give it time. (And no, I'm not preggers!)

All these things have lead to me falling off the wagon. Eh, it happens. I'm waiting for it to ride by again so I can jump on.

Pictures!

Who can resist taking rainbow pictures when you can see them off your own porch? I sure can't!













Praying Mantis anyone? I haven't seen one of these in years...but this one was on my neighbors front porch. Chris saw one the say before in a different town













And finally a picture of Reuben's new best buddy, Rascal. He's a mini dachshund. Whenever Reuben hears Rascal barking outside, he runs to the front door. He loves, loves, loves little Rascal, and Rascal loves to terrorize Reuben. He puts his cold nose on the back of Reuben's heels. He tries to sneak up on Reuben. It's all good doggy fun!

rotating platinum pants

I had no idea what to title this, and I nearly titled it "Happy Thursday", but I used the subject-o-matique on yahoo email instead. Rotating platinum pants is loads more interesting.

I decided that I need to post more frequently...that way anyone who comes here might be compelled to comment more frequently. Sounds like a plan, right? So here's what going on in my life:

1. Had to skip the gym yesterday. Ian (the baby brother) had a meeting at 3 that went long. I could have gone to the gym, but I was not willing to give up my WW meeting.
2. I gained a pound last week, but I figure that sometimes the 3 steps forward and one step back approach is not a deadly one and I still have a total loss of 2 pounds this WW go around, so I'm happy. I decided that I'd like to lose 2 pounds this week, so I took a bright yellow garage sale sticker with a pink "2" written in it. It's now living at the top of my computer screen so I see it all day. It's rather bright, so my eyes are attracted to it. It disappears after a bit, but it's still there, reminding my subconscious mind that my goal is 2 pounds.
3. Tonight is parent-teacher night. I like meeting the parents. Unfortunately, we don't get to see so many because apples don't grow on pear trees, and if you have and ED or school phobic kid, you can guess that more than likely, the parent is ED or school phobic. It's not true in all cases, but enough to make it true.

This is all I have for you lovelies. I'll come back again soon with some pictures I took this week that I think are totally cool. Check ya then!

Deadly week

I'd like to start by asking, "Where the hell did the week go?" I was going to post on Sunday while I was working at the library, except the security guard decided not to do any rounds and just sit at my desk and use the other computer. I didn't feel comfortable writing in my blog with him looking over my shoulder every 5 minutes. I hate that. It makes me feel ooky.

I haven't been following core this week. I think about 3/4 of my meals have been core. Better than nothing, and I refuse to get bent out of shape about it. Next week is a new week, and it's not as if I've been shoving food into my cake hole. I'm fine with it. It's mostly done. Whatever. Tomorrow night is weigh in and we'll see what happens.

Today I took Reuben for a nice walk. We usually don't go for walks. Usually he runs around my parents back yard with their dog, Una. I was happy that I got him out. He got to meet 2 dogs. One was a little beagle whose owner was worried about the size difference between them. When I told her that Reu's new best friend is Rascal, the mini dachshund who lives next door she was relieved. The other dog was Jake, who came bounding at us from across the street. Unleashed dogs make me uneasy. I don't know if I've explained Reu's situation completely. Reuben suffers from OCD and anxiety. He's on anxiety meds. He's not terrible good at meeting new people, unless they have dogs with them. It could be that people who have dogs just exude dog confidence, or that Reuben is distracted by the possibility of a new buddy. Who knows. Not me. So, I've got this strange dog running at us at full speed. Although Reuben likes most dogs, he doesn't like all dogs, and this very well could be one that he will not like. The strange dog's mom is yelling, "Jaaaaaaake, noooooooooo". Reuben has his hackles up. I'm putting myself in between the 2 yelling, "Is your dog friendly?" Jake was very friendly. Reuben was not exactly happy with Jake, but he didn't growl or show teeth either. I think he was put off by the fact that Jake came bounding out of no where. Now we're sitting on the couch, I'm typing, Reuben is asleep ( a result of over-stimulation: mental, physical and anxiety).

Ooooh, one last thing. I finally made it to the gym yesterday and I plan to go tomorrow, too! Woohoo for me!